


Enokida Drabbles

by kissofasiren



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa
Genre: AI, Anxiety, Ballet, Banter, Beaches, Betrayal, Books, Break Up, Candles, Character Death, Coding and Programming, Competition, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dancing, Day At The Beach, Dreams, Emotional Hurt, Execution, Exploring, F/M, Family, Fear, Fireworks, Flirting, Forehead Kisses, Fun, Gentle Kissing, Headaches & Migraines, Heartbreak, Homework, Hurt/Comfort, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Imprisonment, Insomnia, Interrogation, Kissing, Library, Lipstick & Lip Gloss, Memory Loss, Mental Breakdown, Murder, Nightmares, Note writing, Panic, Selectively mute, Shopping, Short Character, Sign Language, Simulation, Sleepiness, Sleeping Together, Sneaking Around, Sneaky kisses, Student Lounge, Suicide, Survival, Survival Strategies, Swimming, Touching, Trouble Socializing, Ultimate Shadow, Underwear, Violence, Walks On The Beach, Weather, class trial, despair disease, fall - Freeform, hand holding, noise - Freeform, social skills, studying together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 12:00:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 32
Words: 26,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18498547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissofasiren/pseuds/kissofasiren
Summary: Enokida Dasamura is brought to Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Shadow. Surely, with a fool-proof survival plan and the skill-set to more or less let her go unseen, she should be fine. She should be, at least.





	1. Trial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A body has been discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some important notes for the beginning of this! I unfortunately didn't think to write any of these in chronological order, so the order of the chapters are going to be very scattered. Sorry about that!  
> Also important context clues, I suppose, Kida is capable of hearing and talking, she just chooses to use sign language in order to keep quiet to help her be sneakier and blend in to the background more easily (as per her 'Ultimate Shadow' skillset). She signs to anyone from DR1, but speaks to those from DR2. I'm not certain how clear that was made in the chapters themselves, so I figured I would put it here just in case!

The whole thing was just...depressing. There was nothing shocking or bloody or particularly scarring about the scene. Just a girl draped on a bed. Enokida was in bed...kind of. She was positioned rather strangely, but her body lay on top of the bed regardless. Near her feet there was a small pile of broken glass. An empty bowl and a jar sat on her bedside table. After the initial shock of the realization that Enokida was, in fact, dead, the group received the file containing the details of her death.  
Time of death was not specified. It stated only that she had been dead for several days. It was noted that while there are no extraneous injuries, there was a very high level of chemicals in her body. What type of chemical was left unsaid. There is also a note stating that she had lost a significant amount of weight before her death.  
Evidence found included the position of her body, the broken glass, soup bowl, empty jar, the unlocked door, and a crumpled up note that read “I loved you.” Her body was positioned quite strangely. She wasn’t exactly lying on the bed. It was almost as if she had been sitting and then fell to the side onto her pillows. The broken glass has an unknown origin, but is clean with no hint of blood or other substance. It was found directly underneath Enokida’s feet. The soup bowl is empty and is on her bed-stand within an arm’s reach of the bed if you were to lie down on it. The empty jar is also within an arm’s reach and appears to have once been a jar of medication, but no pills are anywhere to be found. The unlocked door is very strange and unlike Enokida. She was well known for keeping her door locked at all times and never unlocked it unless she knew that there were three or more people waiting for her on the other side. Anything less and it would stay locked. Recently, she had kept herself locked in her room no matter how many people came for her. She hadn’t even been leaving to eat, only for the trials. The crumpled up note was also found on the bedside table, close to the bowl.  
Hina is a friend of Enokida’s. She was among the people that used to come to her door with two other people in order to spend time with her. Hina reports having not seen Enokida in the course of the past several days. There was an incident after Celeste’s trial in which Enokida collapsed to her knees in the hall; Hina attempted to help her up, but Byakuya had beaten her to it. She says she hadn’t seen her since.  
Byakuya and Enokida were very close. They had the beginnings of a romantic relationship happening and cared deeply for each other. Byakuya often showed disdain for her insistence on having two other people around at the same time, making it so they could never be alone together. Byakuya was reportedly the last to see Enokida alive. After she collapsed in the hall, he escorted her to her room. When he discovered that she had not eaten in days, he brought her food from the kitchen/dining hall area.  
Kyoko was distant, but friendly with Enokida. She was among those who hadn’t seen her since the hallway incident. She points out to Makoto that, while Enokida normally would not allow anyone in her room alone, she may have been too weak at the time to get up and lock the door. If she was attacked, she would have been similarly too weak to fight back. However, due to the lack of injuries and the high amounts of chemicals, it was more likely that she was poisoned than attacked. She also notes that the soup was eaten before she died and that it’s possible that’s where the poison was snuck in.  
Makoto was among the group who hadn’t seen Enokida after the hallway incident. It’s difficult for him, and anyone really, to come up with an alibi as it has been several days since her death, but no single day has been pinpointed. They only know that it happened between the hallway and now.  
Sakura was good friends with Enokida. She was frequently seen carrying her around on her back during group outings. She is, strangely, a possible suspect as the event happened after Celeste’s execution, but before Sakura’s death. It is possible that Sakura was still alive at the time of Enokida’s death.  
Toko has not seen Enokida since the hallway incident. She was rather close with her, although she envied Enokida’s closeness with Byakuya. In fact, though she did not see Enokida, she did watch and bother Byakuya while he was preparing and bringing the food to her. Jill was never overly fond of Enokida and is quite relieved to know of her death. She thinks of it as a sort “getting a rival out of the way” so she can get closer to Byakuya. She also claims to not have seen Enokida within the given time frame.  
Hiro admired Enokida’s personality and her strategy. He seems particularly outwardly devastated about her death. It seems at first that he is upset to lose her (which he is), but he is more shaken about the fact that she seemed to have the winning strategy and still ended up dying. He has not seen her since the hallway incident.

TRIAL BEGIN  
The trial didn’t start out with any loud accusations. No one was yelling or fighting. It was just...quiet. Everyone was still processing and trying to accept that this had happened. They were lost. Hina was the first one who spoke up, her voice small and timid.  
“How...how did this happen?”  
“The Monokuma file said there was...high amounts of chemicals in her body.” Byakuya said. He sounded tired. “Does anyone here have an alibi?”  
“How can we?” Hina countered. “We don’t even know when it happened.”  
“We don’t know exactly.” Kyoko said. “But, we do have a timeline of sorts.” Right. The file said she had been dead for several days. She had died sometime after Celeste’s death and before Sakura’s. “Who was the last to see her?”  
“Last time I saw her was when she fell in the hallway.” Hina said.  
“Yeah, same here.” Hiro said.  
“Me, too.” Toko said.  
“I haven’t seen her since then either.” Kyoko said.  
“Me neither.” Makoto said. So, nobody had seen her. Wait, that’s not true. Byakuya took her to her room, hadn’t he? He hasn’t said anything about it. “Byakuya. You saw her after, didn’t you?” More silence. He clearly didn’t want to say anything about it, but the longer he stayed silent, the more suspicious he became.  
“Hang on. Didn’t you bring her to her room?” Hina spoke up. If he wasn’t going to say anything, clearly she would. “You did. I tried to bring her, but you just happened to get to her first.” More silence. “Just admit it! You were the last one to see her!”  
“Fine.” He finally said. “I brought her to her room. Does that mean I was the last one to see her alive? No. Her door was unlocked when we found her. Anyone could have gone in there after I left.”  
“So...what were you doing in her room?” Hiro asked.  
“I told you, I just brought her to her room.” Byakuya snapped.  
“That’s not true.” Toko said. “Why are you lying?” She sounded angry. Why was she so upset?  
“What are you talking about?” Byakuya asked.  
“You brought her food right afterwards.” Toko said. “You didn’t just bring her to her room. You went to the kitchen after and got her a bowl of soup. I was there. You can’t say you just went to her room.” So that explains the empty bowl on the bedside table. But...why was Byakuya lying about that?  
“That may be so, but even then, it doesn’t mean anything. I brought her to room. I brought her food. I left. I never saw her again after that, but that doesn’t mean no one went in her room after that.” Hmm. If Byakuya really was the last one to see her, then he might have some clues as to what could have happened.  
“Byakuya. Can you tell us exactly what happened that day with you and Kida?” Makoto requested.  
“Fine.” He sighed. “Kida collapsed in the hallway. You all saw that. I went over, helped her up, and walked her to her room. I sat her down on her bed and left to get her some food. By the time I came back, she had already fallen asleep under her blankets-”  
“No, that’s wrong!” Makoto cried out. “By the time we found her, she wasn’t under her blankets.”  
“Right. She had her legs dangling off the side of the bed.” Hina confirmed. “Why does that matter?”  
“It means Byakuya didn’t kill Kida.” Kyoko said. “At least not in that moment.”  
“What do you mean?” Hiro asked.  
“Think about it. Why would he have changed the positioning of her body from looking like she was sleeping to being the way it was when we found it? It would have been far more beneficial to make it look like she had just died in her sleep.” Kyoko explained. “That and, if he had killed her then and there, the soup bowl wouldn’t have been empty.”  
“Oh...right.” Hiro said.  
“So, timeline-wise, we have nothing.” Byakuya said.  
“We might not have the exact time of death. Let’s just figure out some other things first.” Kyoko suggested.  
“What about the cause of death?” Hina asked.  
“Like I said earlier, the Monokuma file said she had high levels of chemicals in her body.” Byakuya said warily. “We’re most likely looking at another poisoning.”  
“Well, how would someone have done that?” Hiro asked.  
“They could have slipped something into her food.” Toko said. She had barely spoken during this trial, but every time she did, she had that same seething rage behind her words. Why?  
“What are you insinuating?” Byakuya snapped back.  
“I’m just saying, if she was poisoned, then it’s possible something was done to her food.”  
“Watch what you say. You were in the kitchen with me. How do I know you didn’t do something while I wasn’t looking?”  
“Guys!” Hina yelled. “We don’t have to start accusing each other right away. We haven’t even confirmed that it was the soup that was poisoned.” That’s right. Maybe there was another source that could have poisoned her?  
“It’s possible that the source of poison was already in her room.” Kyoko said.  
“What?” Byakuya said.  
“Makoto, I have a feeling you know exactly what I’m talking about.” He did, too.  
“The empty pill bottle, right?” Makoto asked.  
“What do you mean, ‘empty’?” Byakuya asked suspiciously. “That jar was half full last I saw it. She had even told me days prior that she was glad she still had as many as she did because they were going to last her the next several weeks if need be. There’s no way that bottle was empty.”  
“There is a way if those pills were used to poison her.” Makoto pointed out. Byakuya made a startled noise. The only issue was how the pills were used.  
“Perhaps we should come back to those two later.” Kyoko said. “For now, we have the soup and the pills as two possible sources of poison. There was one more important thing written in her Monokuma file”  
“Her weight loss, right?” Makoto said.  
“She...hadn’t been eating. After Chihiro’s trial, she locked herself in her room and refused to come out for anything, including meals in the dining hall.” Byakuya told everyone. They knew she hadn’t come to the meals, but they didn’t know she had stopped eating entirely. They half-assumed she had just snuck out to get food after everyone had left.  
“So...she probably would have eaten anything, right? Even if it tasted weird from poison or something?” Hina asked.  
“Which just brings us back to Byakuya and Toko.” Hiro pointed out. “Things sure do seem to lead to you two a lot, huh?”  
“How many times do I have to tell you-?” Byakuya seethed.  
“Besides her hunger, her weight loss would have also made her incredibly weak.” Kyoko reminded everyone.  
“So, it’s possible that she was attacked, right?” Hina asked. Wait, but that wasn’t true, was it?  
“No, she was never attacked.” Makoto said.  
“How do you know that?” Toko asked.  
“Her file said she suffered no injuries. Just the chemicals.” Makoto reminded.  
“Right…” Hina said quietly.  
“She may not have been attacked, but she would have been too weak to get up and lock the door after Byakuya left.” Kyoko said.  
“Which means, once again, anyone could have gone in after I was gone.” Byakuya said.  
“Which means everyone is still a suspect…” Hina agreed.  
“So, Kida died after Byakuya left.” Hiro confirmed.  
“Right. Because her body position didn't match up.” Hina said.  
“And the bowl wouldn't be empty if she had died before he left.” Kyoko said. “The way she was positioned was very strange. She had her legs dangling off the side of the bed, but she was lying down on her side.”  
“Maybe she got up and died while standing, so she ended up falling onto the bed behind her!” Hiro said enthusiastically.  
“That's not right. She would have ended up on her back if that were the case.” Byakuya countered. “Perhaps she had gotten up, but ended up sitting back down and fell from a sitting position onto her side.”  
“That makes sense.” Hina said. “But, wait... wouldn't the glass have been bloody if she had stood up? I mean, it was right under her feet.”  
“Glass?” Byakuya asked.  
“You didn't see the glass?” Hiro asked. “There was a pile of shattered glass under her feet. I just couldn't figure out what it came from…”  
Byakuya was quiet for a moment before saying, “Water. It was just a glass of water.”  
“You lied about that too?” Toko asked. “You said you just brought her food.”  
“Yeah, she's right.” Hiro said. “How come you keep covering stuff up, Byakuya?”  
“You're questioning me? Why don't we start questioning why she keeps attacking me?” Byakuya snapped.  
“Why can't you just be honest with everyone?” Toko shouted.  
“Guys!” Hina yelled again. “We need to stop fighting so we can actually figure this out! We know the glass is from a cup now. So, why was it broken?”  
“It wasn't used as a weapon. She didn't have any injuries…” Hiro said.  
“Perhaps she used it as a weapon against her murderer? Maybe she wasn't as weak as we once thought.” Byakuya offered.  
“That doesn't make sense.” Kyoko said. “Remember when Hiro and Genocide Jill used the Monokuma bottles to fight against Sakura. She was bleeding pretty heavily. If Kida had hit someone with a glass cup, there would have been blood on the glass or at least in the surrounding area. But, both the glass and room were clean. It's more likely that the glass was just knocked over.”  
“Knocked over? By who?” Hina asked.  
“By Kida, right?” Makoto said. “She probably knocked it over off the table before she fell. And, like Hina said, it would have had to have been after she had sat down on the bed because the glass was clean. If she had knocked it off before she stood up, there would have been blood on the glass from her stepping on it.”  
“So, Kida unlocks her door for Byakuya, leaves it unlocked, gets poisoned, sits down, breaks the glass, and dies, right?” Hina asked. “But that still means any of us could be a suspect. We don't know how soon after she was killed and her door was unlocked, so any of us could have gone in.”  
“Maybe she didn't leave it unlocked.” Hiro said. “She used to leave her door locked all the time, but she would unlock it for groups of people, right? Byakuya and Toko have been going back and forth accusing each other this whole time, but maybe it was really both of them!”  
“What?” Toko cried out.  
“You're forgetting something very important.” Byakuya said, surprisingly patient with Hiro's idea. “She would only come out if there was a group of three or more asking her to unlock the door. That way if there were a killer in the group, they would only be allowed to kill two of the three people and there would always be a witness. Of course she wouldn't have let Toko and I in. There were only two of us.”  
“What if there were three of you?” Hina asked curiously. “What if Hiro was there too?”  
“Wha- What do you mean?” Hiro asked.  
“I mean, when we found out she was dead, you weren't even upset that your friend had died. You were upset because you thought she had the winning plan and she lost. Maybe you wanted to find some kind of loophole in her plan. Maybe you wanted to prove that no matter how hard any of us tried, we would always lose in the end.” Hina was crying now. It was hard to see her like this; to see her so upset and accusing a friend of hers of something so horrible. It was clear that she didn't want to think that Hiro would do something like that, but it seemed like it was all she had. Even if she didn't truly believe that Hiro killed Kida, she was clearly upset about the way he was reacting to her death.  
“That's not what happened.” Kyoko said, as comfortingly as Kyoko could manage. “We had already established that she was just poisoned, not attacked. No ambush would have been necessary, so we don't need to worry about that.”  
“You guys are forgetting the most important part.” Toko said ominously. She still sounded upset, but she had the beginning of a smile on her lips, like she was a cat about to finally pounce on a long-awaited catch.  
“The most important…?” Hina trailed off.  
“The note.” Toko said. “The love note next to the bed.”  
From across the way, Byakuya made a startled noise. “How...how is that the most important part?”  
“Isn't it obvious? Who else would leave her a note like that?” Toko asked. She was full on grinning now. She had won. Her trap had been set and there was nowhere for her prey to escape to.  
“It could've been any of us, right? I mean, we all loved her.” Hina said.  
“Some more than others.” Kyoko said. She was giving a side glance to Byakuya. Did he…?  
“Byakuya…” Hina said, gently.  
“Did you...were you and Kida…?” Makoto tried asking.  
“It's not what you think.” Byakuya said calmly.  
“Why do you keep lying to everyone?” Toko shouted. “Just tell them! You and Kida were seeing each other! You were practically in love with her! After she found out what you did to Chihiro, she stopped talking to you. We all heard her. ‘Don’t speak to me ever again. If you follow me to my room, I'll scream.’ She wanted nothing to do with you. But you still loved her, right? You couldn't stand the way she was treating you. So you brought her a poisoned meal along with a love note that she didn't even want. Is that right, Byakuya?” Everyone was silent. They turned to Byakuya. His hands were clutching the arms of his jacket and he...were those...tears? Was Byakuya crying?  
“Toko. Just...stop.” Hiro said. He was almost pleading. Nobody wanted this. Nobody wanted her to be right.  
“There's one problem with your theory.” Byakuya said. His voice was calm and steady, betraying the fact that he was wiping away his tears as he spoke. “How did I manage to carry the note, the bowl, and the glass at the same time? I only have so many hands, Toko.”  
“Wh - what?” Toko asked, taken off guard only for a moment. “Well, y-you probably just held it against the glass so you could carry both at the same time.”  
“Where was the water damage on the note? What about the smudged ink?”  
“S-so, you folded it up and p-p-put it in your pocket.”  
“The note we found was crumpled. Not folded.” He spoke quietly now, “I won't deny most of what you said...but I did not write that note.”  
“So...who did, then?” Hina asked.  
“We've definitely seen this type of paper before.” Kyoko said. “It should look very familiar to some of you.”  
“That's right. Kida used to write notes to us, remember? She used to slip them under her door to avoid talking through the door to us.” Makoto reminded. “Did anyone keep any of her notes?”  
There was silence for a moment before Hina spoke up. “I did.”  
“Do you happen to have one on you?” Makoto asked.  
“...yeah.” She said sadly.  
“Why do you just have one of them?” Hiro asked.  
“I got one during the investigation. It was the last one she wrote to me and I just...wanted to hear her again, well, not hear but...you know what I mean.” Hina explained as she reached into her pocket. She pulled out a folded note. Unfolding it and showing the group revealed a note that read, “Goodnight! I love you!” Makoto held out the crumpled note that read, “I loved you.” The same stationary. The same handwriting. Kida had written both notes. “...why?”  
“Who...was it meant for?” Byakuya said quietly. It almost felt wrong to speak up or speak loudly.  
“I believe it was meant for all of us.” Kyoko said and even her voice lacked her usual factual tone. “There wasn't any specific name. It wasn't left in a place where any one of us would find it. It was just out in the open. It's possible that it may have been left for Byakuya, considering their relationship and later... complications between the two, but we need to remember that she was afraid of all of us. And she loved all of us, too.”  
“But...why?” Hina asked. She was crying again. “Why would she write this? Did she know she was going to die?”  
“No.” Byakuya said sternly. “If she knew she was going to die, she would have done everything she could to stop it. For God's sake, she locked herself away from everyone so she wouldn't die.” He looked to Kyoko for confirmation, but she was silent and wouldn't make eye contact. “Am I right?” More silence. “Say something, goddammit!”  
“I think we need to look back at our possible murder weapons.” Kyoko said quickly.  
“The soup and the pills, right?” Hiro asked.  
“I didn't touch her food.” Toko spat.  
“Neither did I.” Byakuya said.  
“Which just leaves the pills.” Kyoko said.  
“No.” Byakuya said.  
“No, what?” Hina asked.  
“I know what you're thinking.” Byakuya said, his eyes locked on Kyoko. “That's not what happened.”  
“Then, what did happen?” Kyoko asked.  
Byakuya stammered for a moment before snapping, “Anything but that.”  
“Makoto, maybe you can convince him better than I can. Who was it that killed Kida?”  
“It was...Kida, wasn't it?” Makoto said.  
“What?” Hina asked.  
“She...killed herself?” Hiro asked, quietly.  
“No!” Byakuya cried out. “That's impossible! That doesn't explain so many things! What about the broken glass? The position of her body? The unlocked door?” He was right. Makoto was pretty sure he had everything pieced together correctly. He just needed to walk Byakuya through it.  
“It probably happened soon after you left her room. She ate the soup you had given her, but still didn't have the energy to get up and lock the door. Realizing the situation she was in, and possibly out of fear and desperation, she used the glass of water to down her bottle of pills. After she had done that, she wrote her note, but crumpled it up instead of leaving it out or continuing it. Then, she decided to get up and out of bed-”  
“And why would she do that?” Byakuya interrupted. That was a good point. Why did she get up?  
“It's possible that she was having second thoughts.” Kyoko said.  
“She...what?” Byakuya asked.  
“Often times, suicide victims will realize halfway through that they don't actually want to die. Sometimes they'll make an effort to survive instead. If she had taken those pills impulsively, it's possible that she had gotten up to get help.”  
“Then...why did she go back to bed if she wanted help?”  
“Overdosing on pills, depending on the type of pill used, can make a person feel dizzy or sleepy. She may have sat down if she didn't feel like she could stand anymore.”  
“And from there, she used the table to steady herself, accidentally knocking down the glass in the process. Soon after, she fell to the side against her pillows and died.” Makoto finished.  
Byakuya looked like he wanted to fight them and their accusations, but...he didn't. He just stayed silent, gripping his suit jacket again.  
“Is...everyone in agreement, then?” Hina asked hesitantly.  
“We should get to the voting, then.” Toko said, equally hesitant.

There was no execution, obviously. There wasn't even any recapping or checking in on each other after the trial. Everyone was just...quiet. So, everyone just glanced at each other and returned to their rooms in the silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kida also has an ask blog! Check out asktheultimateshadow if you'd like to interact with her!


	2. Palm Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya makes an effort to notice when Kida kisses him.

Kida was tricky when it came to kissing. She loved it and did it frequently, but she did so in typical “Ultimate Shadow” fashion: without being noticed. Byakuya didn’t notice until later when he looked in a mirror to find lipstick on his face or neck or when he reached out to grab something and found his hands covered in kiss marks. To a point, he was a little annoyed for a couple reasons. First of all, he was never sure just how long he had been wandering around covered in lipstick without anyone telling him and it always meant having to wash it off later. Second, he’d like to notice when she was kissing him. She was just...very good at going unnoticed. So, naturally he set up a kind of trap for her. He had coaxed her out of her room with a team consisting of him, Mondo, and Taka. He didn’t even particularly care to be around the other two, but for the most part, the group had split in half anyway and were separately going about their own business in the same room. Taka and Mondo had taken to one side of the table in the library and Byakuya and Kida had their own side. Taka had tried to read, but after Mondo had announced his confusion as to why people liked to read, Taka’s book had quickly been abandoned in favor of an impassioned speech on the thrills of reading. Thankfully, Taka at least had the good sense not to ramble particularly loudly in the library. Byakuya also had a book with him, although he wasn’t reading it today. He was focusing all of his attention on Kida who was sitting next to him with her own book. Occasionally, he would flip a page to give off the impression that he was reading, but he knew if he actually took the time to immerse himself in the book, he wouldn’t catch her. Sure enough, just a couple minutes in and he felt her very gently take his hand from his lap. At first, she just held his hand, slowly stroking the back of his knuckles with her thumb. Then, she brought his hand to her mouth and kissed the back of his hand. Her let her continue for a little while, just placing very gentle kisses to the back of his hand. Then, she flipped his hand and he felt her lips just brush against his palm. It tickled just a bit and he tensed his hand reflexively. She must have taken notice because out of the corner of his eye, he saw her lift her head and look at him. He looked back over at her and they locked eyes. She wore a little surprised smile. Maintaining eye contact, she lowered her lips to his hand again, making him smile. After another second or two, she shyly lowered her eyes to her book and returned his hand back to his lap. Satisfied that he had finally caught her, Byakuya did the same.


	3. Eyelid Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida brings Nagito along to the fireworks show.

Nagito wasn’t originally invited to the fireworks show. Kida was, though, which meant that Nagito inevitably was invited. He turned it down, at first, reminding her that nobody really wanted him there in the first place. She reminded him that she wanted him there. That’s why she was inviting him. He agreed finally. When night came, however, Nagito was...quiet. Nagito was never quiet.   
“Hey. What’re you thinking about?” Kida asked, tying her yukata.  
“Oh! Uh...it’s not important. You shouldn’t be worrying about me! You should be getting excited for tonight!”  
“I am excited for tonight. You aren’t.” She said, gently. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I just wanted to make sure you knew you had the option to come.”  
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Nagito said with his standard grin. “It’s just the...I’m not a big fan of loud noises is all. But, don’t worry about it! As long as you’re having fun!”  
“Nagito.” Kida drawled. “You deserve to have fun, too.” His face went blank, as it tended to do whenever he got complimented or told in any way that he had worth. It was like he didn’t even know how to process it. She took one of his hands and he followed it with his gaze. “We won’t go. We’ll have a quiet night on the other side of the beach and-”  
“No.” He interrupted, then quickly added. “Sorry! We should go. It’ll be fun!” She was still holding his hand. She pulled him closer to her, held his shoulder, stood on her toes, and kissed his cheek. Then, she kissed his other cheek. She kissed his nose, his forehead, and while his eyes were still closed, she kissed both of his eyelids. He felt...weird. He was amazingly calm now, but also had a strange sense of discomfort. He felt so unworthy of such attention it almost made him sick to receive it, but also...he wanted it. He wanted her to keep kissing him. He wanted to kiss her like that.   
Still on her toes, she whispered in his ear, “We can go, but we don’t have to stay. If you don’t like it, we can leave. Nothing will be held against you. I won’t be mad or disappointed.” She came back in front of him, resting flat-footed on the ground. “Okay?”  
“Okay!”


	4. Temple Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida finds some candles and decides to brighten up the dining hall a little bit.

“Woah!” Hina exclaimed. “Where did these come from?”   
The long tables in the dining hall were now lined with not only food, but long white candles causing a lovely, golden glow to illuminate the space.   
“Who cares where they came from? Let’s keep them.” Celeste said, moving to take her seat at the table. The room was filled with the usual idle chatter as people sat down and began eating. Byakuya and Enokida took their usual place at the far end of the table.  
“Do you know anything about this?” He asked her, gesturing to the candles.  
“Maybe.” She said, with a sly smirk. “I was looking around the halls and one of the storage spaces was unlocked and I found these. I thought it would be nice.”   
“It is nice.” Byakuya said thoughtfully, looking the table up and down. He liked the candles, but he wished it wasn’t so...crowded. There was simply too many people here. Too much noise. People were laughing. Talking. Taka was yelling. Ugh. Byakuya set down his silverware and began rubbing his temples. He felt a hand at his wrist and raised his head to see Kida pulling his hand away from his head. She leaned forward in her seat and placed a gentle kiss to his temple.   
“Are you okay?” She asked.  
“It’s just...very loud in here.” He replied. She kissed his temple again.  
“I’m sorry.” She said.   
“I wish we could be alone together.”   
“Me too.” She sighed. “Someday. We’ll be out of here someday and then...everything will be different.”  
“You really believe that.”  
“Of course I do. Everything always turns out okay in the end.” He wanted to believe that and looking at her smile and the way her eyes glinted in the candlelight, he did. If only for a minute.


	5. Hand Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito and Kida walk on the beach together and talk about their lives before Hope's Peak.

Nagito was interesting to talk to. He liked to talk, but he also had trouble talking, in certain ways. He had some issues talking about his own life, but he loved to talk about other people’s lives. Walking down the beach, hand in hand with Nagito, there was a lot of Nagito asking questions, Kida answering, and Nagito reacting, followed up by more questions. Whenever Kida tried asking follow up questions, he would just hum before going off on another monologue or asking her a question.   
“Have you ever been to the beach before?” Nagito asked enthusiastically.  
“Um,” Kida began. She had no idea. She might have been, but...she must have never told Byakuya or Makoto or anyone else about it, if she had. “I don’t really know. Maybe when I was super little or something. What about you?”  
“Hm.” Nagito said blankly. “Well, how do you like the beach so far? It sounds like this is your first time that you can remember so I figure you must have some kind of first impression. You don’t strike me really as the kind of girl to be really into the beach life - but that doesn’t mean you can’t like it! I just wasn’t sure if you would. You seem to be having a good time so far, though. I mean, I could be totally wrong about that, too. I’m not always great at reading people or figuring out what they like or-”  
“Nagito.” She interrupted. “You keep dodging my questions.”  
“Oh. Do I?” He asked innocently. “Sorry. I guess I just get so caught up in thinking about you that I don’t really have time to think about-”  
“Hey.” She stopped and turned to him. “If you don’t want to talk about your past, you can just tell me. I’ll stop asking.”   
“Hm.” He felt...god, how did he feel? He liked that she wanted to know about him and liked talking to him. He was confused as to why she liked talking to him. Thinking about telling her about his past made him feel panicked, but he wasn’t totally sure why. What was he so scared of? Did he...want her to stop asking him? “It’s not...that I don’t want to talk about it. It’s more like…” How was he supposed to word this? “I don’t know if you want to hear it.”  
“Why wouldn’t I want to hear it?”  
“Why would you? I’m not as interesting or important as all of you guys. I’m just-”  
“I like you.”  
“What?”  
“I like you.” She repeated. “That’s why I want to hear it.” He gave her that blank stare again. She took his hand up to her mouth and kissed the back of his hand. He watched her and she could see in his eyes that he was thinking, but she couldn’t tell what about. His eyes shifted between their hands, her eyes, and the sand of the beach.   
“My family had a lot of money.” He said finally. “So, we traveled a lot. We went to a few beaches, but I was really young at the time, too, so I don’t remember a ton.” He was laughing, but she could tell he was tense, too. Neither of them really knew why.  
“What do you remember?”  
There was another pause before Nagito said, “I remember the sand. And picking up shells off the ground. My parents were walking in front of me and I kept getting distracted by the shells and the birds, so I kept having to chase after them. I remember the waves being really loud and big, but that was probably just because I was so small.” He laughed and nervously ran a hand through his hair.  
She kissed his hand again and smiled at him. “I’m proud of you.” His eyes went blank again, just for a second. It almost looked like she had scared him by saying that, but he just as quickly relaxed again. “Are you okay?”  
“Yeah! Yeah, I’m fine!” He smiled. He gave her hand a little tug. “Do you...wanna keep walking?”  
“Absolutely.”


	6. Shoulder Blade Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya wants to be awake when he's with Kida, but he's just so tired all the time.

Byakuya was tired. He always was when he first arrived on the island. It’s part of the reason he came here. Kida relaxed him. She made him feel stable. There was never any pressure around her to do anything. She was perfectly content to just have him there with her. It was one of the most relieving feelings he’d ever experienced. Part of him felt bad. He did want to do things with her, he was just too exhausted to do much more than lie in bed with her. After a good night’s sleep, he was always ready to hang out around the island, but that was always just part two of him visiting her.  
He was barely awake when he first felt it. A very light touch against his shoulder blade. Then the same on his other side. He opened his eyes just enough to see what was happening. He saw Kida come back to her side of the bed. It looked like she had been bent over him. His arms were still tucked under his pillow and he was far too comfortable to get himself untucked to sign to her, so he just spoke to her instead. “Did you kiss me?” She nodded, then brushed her fingertips up and down his back. “Mm. If you keep doing that, I’m just gonna fall asleep again.”  
“Good.” She said, still smiling. “You deserve to rest. You work so hard. I want you to relax.”  
“But...if I’m asleep, we won’t be able to do anything together.”  
She started stroking his hair, which did nothing to keep him awake. “I’ll be here. We’ll still be together. I’m not going anywhere, believe me.”  
And with that last bit of encouragement from her, he fell back into a restful, blissful sleep.


	7. Nose Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito spends the night with Kida and gets a little clingy.

Nagito turned out to love affection. He was rather clueless on the subject, but enthusiastic nonetheless. He held Kida’s hand under tables, kissed her face, sat in her lap and pulled her into his. As long as he was touching her, he seemed happy with however it happened. In fact, he was so thoroughly into it, he always ended up getting clingy in his sleep. Kida would wake up with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, his leg shoved between hers, his head on her chest, the list goes on.   
She woke up this morning facing him. They were on their sides, one of his arms was wrapped around her waist, his hand on her back, the other was curled between them with his hand pressed to her chest. She loved waking up in a way that let her see him. For the most part, he was very expressive when he was awake. He laughed and smiled a lot, but he could also look quite nervous and tense, too. When he was asleep, he was just...peaceful. Relaxed. Nagito was never relaxed during the day, but he deserved to be. At least he could have that while he slept.  
He was very hit or miss in terms of how deeply he slept. There were some nights where he would’ve kept sleeping if the cottage was set ablaze and there were others where if Kida so much as breathed in his direction, he was awake. She had no way of telling what kind of night it would be, or what kind of morning in this case. She didn’t want to wake him up, but she did want to touch him. Carefully, she lifted one hand up to his face. She brushed his hair off his cheek, her fingertips brushing his skin. He sighed and shifted to press his cheek into her hand. He still seemed to be asleep, so she rested her hand along his jaw, cupping his face. She idly stroked her thumb along his cheek, leaned forward and kissed his nose, softly enough that she hoped it wouldn’t wake him up. When she heard a faint giggle and felt his grip on her tighten, she knew he was awake.   
“Man. I wish I could wake up like that every morning.” He was still half-asleep, so his words were slurring together.  
“Do you want to wake up that way?” She asked quietly.  
“I mean - I don’t want to...impose or ask too much. I understand if you don’t want to-”  
“I want to.” She interrupted. “I like kissing you.”  
He stretched a little while still lying down and repositioned his arms around her to bring her closer to him. “I like being kissed by you.”  
“I’ll be sure to kiss you more then.” She said, then kissed his shoulder. “Now, go back to sleep.”  
“‘M not tired.” He said, but another minute of her stroking his hair and running her fingers up and down his back and he was right back asleep again.


	8. Chest Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida and Byakuya get a little intimate one night on the island.

“It’s so strange seeing you sleep in just your underwear.” Kida said as Byakuya took off his glasses and set them on the bedside table.  
“In a bad way?” He asked.  
“No. I like it.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re pretty, what can I say?” She giggled a little as he got into bed with her. “You’re always just so covered up in the daytime. I’m lucky to have access to your bare hands.”  
“It’s hot on this island.” He defended.  
“You could sleep without the blankets. And you still cuddle me.”   
“The blankets are comfortable and your hands are always cold.”  
“Too cold?” She asked. Finally getting comfortable in bed, he pulled her right up to him so he was on his back and she was resting with her head on his chest.   
“Not at all. In this heat, it’s actually quite refreshing.” He assured.   
“Well, let me know if you get too hot and I’ll just touch you where you need me to.” She said. Byakuya’s eyes snapped opened at her statement. Part of him was sure she meant it innocently, but one look at her little smirk told him otherwise.   
“I’ll be sure to do that.” He smiled back before settling back to sleep. A couple minutes went by in the comfortable stillness and warmth that came with night time on the island. The sound of the ocean waves outside were slowly lulling him to sleep. He awoke suddenly at the feel of something freezing cold touching his chest. He opened his eyes and peered down to see what was happening. There, he saw Kida’s hand freely exploring his exposed skin. “What are you doing?”  
She took her hand immediately away. “Sorry. I just...don’t get to see you like this very often, let alone touch you.”  
“You want to touch me?”   
“I’d like to, yes...can I?” He nodded quietly. He still hadn’t quite recovered his memories from his school life. He didn’t know if he and Kida had ever been...intimate then and they definitely didn’t touch each other like this during the killing game, so to his knowledge, this is the first time she’s touched him like this. Her touch was gentle and curious, just stroking his chest and occasionally moving down to his stomach. The cold against his skin made his muscles tense up and, embarrassingly, his nipples stiffen. She noticed this after a moment and reached up to caress one with her thumb. The combination of the cold and the sensitivity made Byakuya gasp. While Kida’s hands were cooling his chest and stomach, his face was quickly becoming very hot. He bit down on his lower lip and just watched her explore for another moment before she leaned in just enough to place a kiss to his bare chest. He was very thankful for the dark in that moment so she couldn’t see how red his face was. She came back down to resting her head on his chest, looked up at him with adoring eyes and whispered, “Thank you.”   
It was always a shock to hear her speak out loud for him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, pressed one of her hands to his chest and drifted off to sleep.


	9. Head Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito accompanies Kida on a trip to the store. He's curious about a couple things she said early on in the school trip.

Kida was walking along the boardwalk on the island when she heard her name being called. She stopped and turned, too quickly apparently, just in time for Nagito to all but crash into her. “Oh! Sorry! Are you okay?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine!” She laughed. “Are you?”  
“Yeah!” He said, giggling. “I just saw you walking around with your backpack and I just wondered where you were going.”  
“Oh! I was just going down the market! Did you wanna come?” She already knew the answer was yes. Nagito always wanted to go anywhere if he was invited. The only time he ever declined was if he already had plans, which didn’t happen very often.  
“Well, if you’re offering, then I’d love to come!” Nagito grinned. Kida smiled back and they started walking together.   
The walk there was chatty, naturally, and Nagito hadn’t let go of Kida’s hand the whole time. They finally arrived at the market after a while.  
“What is it that you’re here for anyway?” Nagito asked.  
“Oh! I uh...didn’t really have anything particular in mind. That’s why I brought my backpack. In case I decide to get a bunch of stuff.” She looked almost sheepish. That was a look he hadn’t seen on her. “As long as I’ve been on this island, I...haven’t exactly done a ton of exploring.”  
“You’ve never been here?” He sounded so surprised. She shook her head, pushing open the doors. “When everyone first woke up, I brought Hajime around to all of the different places on this island so he could meet everyone.”   
“I remember you brought him to my cabin.” Kida laughed, perusing the aisles of the store and grabbing a couple small packs of candies.   
“Yeah! I remember when I first met you, you were actually coming out of your room.” He recalled.   
“Oh. Yeah...you and I woke up a little earlier than everyone else, huh?” She asked. She sounded almost uncomfortable.  
“Hey. You don’t have to be embarrassed. I know you were kinda shy in the beginning. I get wanting to hide from other people.” He said. She started filling her backpack with bunches of different kinds of pens on display. “You came out to meet us eventually, though.”  
“Yeah!” She said enthusiastically. “I did want to meet you guys, I just...wasn’t sure when any of you would wake up, so I just went to find my room first.”  
“Understandable.” He laughed. As she was zipping up her backpack and slinging it back over her shoulders, Nagito remembered something. “Hey, I have a question.”  
“Ask away.”  
“When you first met Byakuya, you asked who he was.”  
“Right.”  
“And when he told you, you accused him of not being Byakuya.” She didn’t reply verbally, but stiffened up and nodded. “Why did you think he wasn’t?”  
“Oh!” She seemed relieved, but he wasn’t totally sure why. “I knew Byakuya before we were brought here. He just looked different from the way I remember him.” She explained as they began their journey back to her cottage.  
“He said he didn’t know who you were.”  
“He did...but, you know, being the Ultimate Shadow, I notice a lot, but I don’t always get noticed a lot.” She gave him an easygoing smile. Nagito wasn’t totally convinced that she was happy with that, though.   
“How did you two meet?” He asked.  
“We went to school together. I was probably just that one girl who sat in the back and never talked, as far as he knows.” She laughed, but something about this felt off.  
“Wait.” Nagito said. He stopped walking and she stopped beside him, giving him a concerned look. “You remember him from school?”  
“...Yeah.” She confirmed.   
“You...remember your school life?” He asked. She paused, staring down at the walkway and he watched her eyes flit back and forth for a second.  
“I...remember some of it.” She admitted.   
“How?” He asked. He almost sounded accusatory. “Nobody else here has any memory of our school lives. Monokuma even told us that he took them away. How do you still have memories?”  
“Hey.” She said. It was hushed, but urgent. “I’m not the only one with memory abnormalities. Hajime still doesn’t remember his ability, does he?” She asked. He shook his head and slowly moved to hold his own arms. He had forgotten about that. She opened up to him about her past and he had just jumped to the idea that she might be...he was so ashamed of himself. “Maybe some of us just have varying levels of memory loss.” He nodded, still silent. She reached out and grabbed his arm. “Hey.” No response. “Nagito.” He finally looked up at her, his cheeks beginning to redden with embarrassment. She looked him over for a moment before tugging gently on his arm. “Come here.” He took a step closer to her and she stood on her toes, put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his head, gently pulling him down towards her. She kissed his forehead and, on the one hand, he felt great comfort from it, but he also wondered if he deserved such a forgiving gesture from her. Lowering herself back down to the ground, she wrapped him in a loving hug. He clung to her like she was keeping him grounded.   
“I’m sorry.” He said quietly, as if he were afraid saying it would just offend her more.  
“Don’t worry about it.” She came back up again to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “We’ll know someday why I can remember. And hey, I bet you’ll be the first one to figure it out too.” She flashed him a smile and he smiled shyly back. “Do you wanna hold hands on the walk back?”  
“Yes, please.” He muttered. She reached out and took his hand. Their fingers intertwined as they set off again down the pathway.


	10. Wrist Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida is hopeful about their future. Byakuya doesn't understand how.

Kida had discovered a student lounge. When had she done this?  
“I thought you stayed locked in your room all day?” Makoto asked as she held the door open for everyone.   
“Oh, no.” She said, coming in after everyone. “I keep my door locked, but I’m not always in there.”  
“What about your ‘three or more people’ rule?” Byakuya asked.  
“I go out alone, sometimes. There’s no danger if it’s just me.” She was smiling, but it was hard to pair the happiness in her expression with the fear that drove her actions. The four explored the lounge quietly. There were a couple couches and desks, and some bookshelves lining the walls. Naturally, the windows were bolted up here, too. While everyone was exploring on their own, Kida walked on delicate feet over to the windows. She placed a hand on the metal and tilted her head.   
Byakuya looked up at her from a book he had picked up from one of the shelves. Tucking the book under his arm to free his hands, he asked her, “What are you doing?”  
“What do you think the weather is like out there?” She asked back.  
“Cold.” Byakuya answered.  
“You think so?” She asked.  
“I hope so!” Makoto chimed in. “I love autumn. Before school, I used to love wearing sweaters and drinking hot drinks.” He looked happy. It was so good to see him happy.  
“I miss trees.” Hiro said.  
“Oh, me too.” Kida agreed. “We should all go on a walk through the forest or something when we get out of here.”  
“Hell yeah!” Hiro said, then pumped his fist in the air excitedly. Makoto and Hiro went on exchanging stories of camping and hiking and otherwise outdoor activities that they enjoyed before school. Kida looked over at Byakuya who was staring, displeased, at the floor.   
“Hey.” She said. “Are you okay?”  
“Why do you keep saying that?” He asked, keeping his eyes on her now so he could watch her sign.  
“Saying what?”  
“You keep saying ‘when we’ get out of here. How can you still be so hopeful that, first of all, any of us will make it out of here alive and second, that multiple people will make it out of here alive?” He was essentially snapping at her. He knew that. He just...didn’t understand.  
She looked off to the side, her face not upset, but thoughtful. “I don’t know.” She finally answered. “Being hopeful feels better than the alternatives. I like to think that we can all make it out alive. I know it’s just one of an infinite number of possibilities and there’s always the chance that people will die. I know that. But even if there’s a slim chance of everyone surviving, there’s still a chance, right? Maybe it won’t happen...but it can. I think that’s really important.” She finished her speech by reaching out and taking his hand. She raised it to her lips and kissed him as if the gesture would transfer some of her hopefulness over to him. Apparently, while she was telling him all this, he had been fidgeting with his sleeves. They had been folded up and pushed up away from his wrists. Kida flipped his hand and kissed his palm, then made her way up to his wrist. “We’ll be okay.”   
He reached out with the hand she had been kissing and cupped her face. For a second, they just stayed like that, him stroking her face with his thumb and her gazing lovingly into his eyes. “I hope so.”


	11. Forehead Kiss From Behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito wants to test out Kida's Ultimate Shadow abilities.

Kida was sneaky. Everyone knew that much. She seemed to magically appear in rooms, called people out on things they were lying about or things that were supposed to be kept secretive because she had witnessed what had actually happened, and was able to sprint down entire hallways without making so much as a sound. She truly was the Ultimate Shadow.   
Nagito wanted to know just how good she was. So, naturally, he posed a challenge to her. Nothing specific, he just wanted to know her at her sneakiest.  
“How about this?” She asked. He was reminded by hearing her speak out loud that she didn’t normally do that either; she normally used sign language to stay that much more silent. She only spoke out loud because he hadn’t taken the time to learn sign. Typical of him to hold her back from her true potential. “You won’t see me for the rest of the day. I’ll be around, but you won’t know it. At the end of the day, I’ll come right back to you. How does that sound?”  
“We’ll see. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to catch you.” He grinned.  
“We’ll see.” She took a step towards him and for a second, he wondered if she might kiss him, but she stopped just short. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” Then, she turned and walked out of his cabin. Curious, he also stepped outside to see if he could watch her walk off, but she was already missing. He looked down either side of the walkway and even turned around the corners of the building, but she was nowhere to be seen. So the game begins.  
As the day passed, Kida stayed true to her word. Walking on the beach, he turned to find footsteps just a few paces behind his that eventually diverged elsewhere. Getting up to stretch his legs in the library, he’d find a second open book alongside his upon coming back. There was one particular moment when he was walking back to his cottage where he felt a very distinct tug on his hair. He turned around, he thought quickly, but once again, there was no one there. She could so easily use that to scare people or play tricks. She could make someone go crazy, if she really wanted, Nagito thought. He finally went into his room and sat down at his desk. The sun was setting outside, turning the sky into an enchanting orange and pink mixture. The day was practically over. He didn’t have much time left to catch her. Maybe the trick to catching was to not be caught himself. Thinking carefully, he folded his arms on his desk and rested head down on his arms. He left enough space between his body and the desk so he could see the floor beside him. He slowed his breathing and relaxed his muscles. If she thought he was asleep, she wouldn’t be so cautious around him, would she? Why would she figure he could see her if he was asleep? So, he stayed that way for a little while, watching and waiting.   
He saw no feet at either side, but eventually, he felt a very gentle touch just on his hair, not quite touching his head. His reaction was immediate. His head snapped back and he slapped one of his hands to the back of his head hoping to pin her hand there. It worked. Her fingers wiggled a little under his hand, making scratching motions against his scalp and he heard her giggle.  
“Gotcha.” He said triumphantly.  
“Well...almost.” Wondering what she meant, he focused his eyes in front of him. It was dark outside. She hadn’t fallen for his trick. She won. “I just came by to let you know your time is up. Don’t worry about it, though!” She removed her hand from under his and resumed stroking his hair. He relaxed into her touch. Kida held his head from either side, tilted his head back and kissed his forehead.  
“I wish I could do the things you can do.” He said wistfully.  
“You can.”  
“No way! I’m too big to move the way you do and I’d never be able to keep quiet the way you do.”  
She started stroking his cheeks idly. “What if I taught you?”  
“Is that even possible?”  
“Of course it is! And it’s no burden, I’d love to. And you’re entirely capable and worthy of such knowledge.” Wow. She knew him too well. “Only if you want to, though.”  
“I think I want to.” He wanted to reach out and touch her too, but the angle was confusing him and he wasn’t sure how he would go about doing that.  
“Awesome. We can start tomorrow, if you want.”  
“Sounds good.” She kissed his forehead once more and took her hands away from him. In a moment of...what? Fear? Loneliness? Desire or love? He turned around asked, “Hey, Kida? Do you want to...stay here for the night?”  
She smiled to herself, joyful but shy, and turned back to him with sparkling eyes. “I’d love to.”


	12. Let Go of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enokida hears about what Byakuya's done to Chihiro. She's not happy about it.

“No…why…?”   
Everyone’s heads snapped up. Had Kida just...spoken? They all started sputtering questions.  
“Did you just-?”  
“You aren’t…?”  
“Since when can you…?”  
Toko was the first one to finally say it. “Y-you can talk!”  
Kida folded her hands up against her chest, a bitter smile forming on her face. “Of course I can. I’ve always been able to.” She pulled a small envelope out of her sweatshirt pocket. “That was my uh...secret, I guess.” She opened it and read it aloud to the group. “Enokida is fully capable of hearing and speaking. She just chooses not to.” Putting it away, she told them, “You guys just...never asked. Everyone just assumed. I would have told anyone if they had just asked.” Her eyes met Byakuya. “Why...did you touch Chihiro’s body? Why would you do that?” She didn’t even sound angry. She sounded heartbroken. The fact that hearing her talk that way was one of the first things they had heard from her at all sent chills down Byakuya’s spine. He wanted to say that he hadn’t. He never touched Chihiro. What if he just blamed it on someone else? But, he had just more or less admitted to it...He wanted to apologize. Take it back. Anything to make her stop sounding so sad.  
“I…” He didn’t get much farther than that. Nothing he could say would make this better. He stopped talking as soon as he had started. So did Kida. She didn’t say anything, spoken or signed, for the remainder of the trial. It wasn’t Byakuya and he thought that might have helped. It didn’t. During and after Mondo’s execution, she wouldn’t meet his eye and she stayed a good distance away from him. Afterwards, while everyone was heading back to their rooms, he came up behind her. “Kida.” He said, trying to get her attention. She kept walking in silence. “Kida, please.” Desperately, he grabbed her shoulder to try and turn her to him. She stopped in her tracks, but didn’t make any motion to turn around.  
“Let go of me.” She didn’t just say it, she said it loud enough that anyone nearby could hear her. He drew his hand back as if touching her had shocked him. Finally, she turned around and met his eyes. Kida was smiley as a person; she was just always friendly and charming and generally loved everyone. Her expression now was cold and...afraid. “I don’t...want to hear from you. I don’t want you coming by my room anymore. I don’t care how many other people you bring with you. Leave me alone. If you follow me to my room, I will scream.” Byakuya watched her make her way to her room. There was nothing he could do. Kida used sign as part of her talent. She wanted to make sure she could communicate without being noticed. Which meant she had spoken all of that out loud to make sure everyone noticed. Everyone else knew that he was not to approach Kida from now on. She had just more or less put him on public watch and if anything ever did happen to her, he would be the first on the suspect list. He went back to his room. At his desk, he found his notepad and pen. In an impulse, he picked them up and jotted down, “I’m sorry,” on the front page. He just as soon tore it off and crumpled it up. There was no point. If he went over now and slipped it under her door, he would be violating the rules she had placed on him. He wasn’t allowed to approach her. She would know the note was from him and if he was seen by anyone...there was no point. Kida was gone. He got bored and now she was gone. What had he done?


	13. Escaped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida meets up with Nagito after he's been unchained.

“Oh.” Kida said, walking up to Nagito. “You escaped.” Last she had seen, he was chained up in the old building on the island. Now, he was playing the video game that was set out as the motive.  
He looked up at her with a self-conscious smile on his face. “Escaped? Hardly. I just got let out.” He went back to playing the game.  
“Fair enough, I suppose.” She said with a shrug.  
“Have you played this yet?” He asked. He was looking at her again with bright eyes. She shook her head.  
“Nah. I don’t need to.”  
“Really? You’re not interested at all.”  
“You clearly are.” She said with a grin, nodding her head to the end screen of the game.  
“I was just curious, is all.” He shrugged, taking a step away from the machine. “I don’t really plan on using it as a motive.”  
“Are you planning on killing someone again?”  
He laughed. “You sure ask a lot of questions.”  
She smiled and tilted her head at him. “You’re curious about the game. I’m curious about other things.”  
“That’s not always a bad thing.” He said, folding his arms across his chest. “What are you curious about?”  
“I’d like to know more about you.” She said with a squint. “After your little stunt last time, I feel like we hardly know you. What you’re about. How you think. Even just things like what you like and hope for in life.” She dragged the word out, locking eyes with him. Was she...teasing him?   
“Aren’t you scared of me?” He asked. He wasn’t sure why he asked. It kind of just popped out of his mouth without his permission.  
“Do you want me to be?” That was an interesting question. He took a minute to think it over.  
“I don’t think so. But, maybe you should be.” He suggested. It almost seemed like he was threatening her, he was vaguely aware of that. It wasn’t what he was going for, but whatever worked.  
“Nagito.” Kida said. She might have been scolding him, but she said it with such fondness on her face, he wasn’t quite sure. She sauntered up to him and grabbed his shoulders. She was...very close. Nagito wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He wasn’t overly familiar with the subject of touching or being touched. He knew his face felt very warm and his breath caught in his throat for a split second. Her hands slid down his arms to his hands. She took them and placed them on her waist. His grip tightened on her as if she would vanish any second. “What could you ever do to make me scared of you?” He could do plenty, actually. He didn’t even have to do anything. It usually just...happened. People were scared of him. They chained him up. They left him alone. She wasn’t. He didn’t know why, but...he decided that he liked it.


	14. Anyone Else?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya decides to visit Kida, but he might have to gather a group in order to do it.

How did he end up here? He shouldn’t be here. His room was just down the hall. He could just go back and be alone for the rest of the day and that would be fine. But that’s not what he did. God help him, he had come here to socialize of all things. Well...in a way. Enokida had caught his attention in an interesting way. She was quiet. She didn’t demand attention in any way. She was content with whatever she got. Even just the idea felt refreshing to Byakuya. Someone he could just be around without any pressure to talk or participate socially or….do anything, really? It was amazing. He wanted it. He just didn’t know how to go about it. Originally, he had come right up to her door, full confidence, ready to ask her to join him on a trip to the library. Now, he had been standing in front of her door for maybe a minute and a half. He just had to knock. He was just hesitant. Of what, he wasn’t sure. Rejection, maybe? Maybe it had just been a while since he had initiated something like this. “Just knock.” He told himself. Before he really had any time to talk himself out of it (again), he knocked rapidly three times on the door. After waiting for a second with no response, he briefly considered the idea that she wasn’t in there. Or maybe she couldn’t hear him. She only used sign language, so perhaps she couldn’t hear at all. Sighing, he took a step back, prepared to just go back to his room. As his foot hit the floor, he heard a crinkling noise. Looking down, he saw that he had just stepped on a piece of paper.   
The note read, “Who is it?” So, she was in there and she did hear him. She just wasn’t responding verbally. Was he meant to respond in note form, too? He didn’t have anything to write with or on, so he just responded verbally.   
“Byakuya Togami.” Looking down, he saw another note spit out from under the door.   
Picking it up, he read, “Oh, hello! Can I help you with something?”   
Clearing his throat and feeling just a touch awkward speaking to a closed door, he said, “I wanted to invite you to the library with me.”  
Another note. “Do you have anyone else with you?” He cocked his head at the note.   
“No…” He said hesitantly. “It’s just me.”  
“I actually don’t leave my room with less than a group of three. You know, there’s the whole rule about how a killer can only kill two people at a time, so I figure if there’s four of us at a time, if there’s a killer and two victims, there will always be a witness! Sorry! I know you don’t exactly love socializing (it sounded like you stood outside for a while before knocking, but that’s okay!), so I know it might be a bit of a hassle to gather two more people, but if you’re up for it, I would love to go to the library with you!”   
Crouched in front of her door, Kida listened for Byakuya’s response. Instead of his voice, she just heard his footsteps as he quickly left the area. Ah, well. Looked like he wasn’t up to the task. That was fine. She liked Byakuya, but she understood if their needs didn’t quite match up. They could always talk via notes, like she had done with Hina earlier, and during breakfast. Maybe he would-  
Her thoughts were interrupted by more knocking on the door. Pen and notepad in hand, she tiptoed her way back to her door from where she had settled on her bed.   
“Kida?” Byakuya had returned! “I’m here with Hina and Makoto, if you’re still interested.”  
“Yeah, Kida! I’d love to hang out!” Hina called through the door.  
“Oh - yeah! Me too!” Makoto called. Kida wondered if Hina had elbowed him to remind him to talk. He sounded surprised. Excited, Kida jumped up from her crouched position and opened the door.  
“Hello!” She signed, grinning.   
“We should get going.” Byakuya signed back to her. The group headed out towards the library.   
“Hey!” Kida said to Byakuya, coming up to his side. “Thank you for coming back. I thought you had just left for a second there, but I’m glad you came back.” Watching her sign all this to him, seeing her bright eyes and her joyful smile, Byakuya decided that he was glad he came back too.


	15. I Don't Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gundham just killed a man. Nagito is mad at her for some reason. Why is this happening?

“What are you doing?” Kida asked. Gundham froze. She wasn’t supposed to be there. To her knowledge, he wasn’t supposed to be there. He didn’t have a good answer for her.  
“Ah. Well you see, I…” He was stalling. He knew he was stalling. “I was simply paying a visit to Sonia. We both had trouble sleeping and we were talking over the phone, but we decided that meeting in person was a better experience overall.”   
“Gundham…” She took a step closer to him. He took one back, starting to feel cornered. “I’ve been out here almost all night. Sonia hasn’t left her room. The phone hasn’t rung.” Well. In such a short amount of time, she had dismantled everything he had told her. Things weren’t looking up for him. “What did you do?” She sounded so small. So broken. This wasn’t what he wanted.   
“What needed to be done.” He left her then. She wasn’t quite sure where he went or if it even mattered. She sat down helplessly in the lounge. She wasn’t sad, per se. She was just numb. She knew how this worked by now. She was well aware what happened to the people in here when they died. She knew they would be okay, it just...hurt. It hurt knowing that people would continue to be hurt and hurt each other. It hurt that she would have to say goodbye to friends and she didn’t know when she would see them again.   
“Kida.” She was greeted curtly by Nagito. When had he gotten here? She was too drained to even attempt a response. She just curled further into herself in her seat. “What? You can’t be dignified enough to grace me with a response?”  
That hurt. That hurt more than knowing Gundham would be gone soon. Gundham could always come back and be a friend again, but if she lost Nagito as a friend, then… “You’re mad at me.” She said quietly. “I don’t understand.” A tear began making its way down her cheek.  
Nagito felt sick. He had come in here all glory and confidence over the discoveries he had made, and now...he was disgusted with himself. He could’ve talked this through with her. Could’ve asked questions. But no. He needed to come in here and treat her coldly before downright insulting her. What kind of monster was he? She still hadn’t moved. He wanted her to. Wanted her to get up and run away and demand he never show his face before her ever again. But she didn’t. He probably could’ve thrown every accusation her way and she would’ve stayed put. He was still suspicious of her, but...god, his heart hurt for her, too. Almost against his will, he sat down in one of the other chairs. “I’m...sorry. I didn’t mean to...” Mean to what? He couldn’t pick any one thing, but luckily she understood.  
“I know you didn’t.” She gave him a smile, but her eyes were still full of tears and that just made him feel that much worse. “Do you wanna tell me why you’re mad at me?”  
“I’m not...I just don’t...can we talk it about it later? I don’t even know how to word it right now.” He wished he was better at this. He wished so desperately.  
“Of course.” She smiled again. He wanted to hold her. Wanted to touch her face or kiss her forehead or something, anything that could connect them and calm her. He reached out a hand towards her. She reached out hers. They held onto each other, both of them relaxing even just a little in response to the other’s touch. Maybe they needed each other. Maybe that was okay.


	16. Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya sees Kida dancing on the monitors and decides to watch in person instead.

Kida liked to dance. That was something she had told them during the Killing Game, so they made sure to include it in her AI's programming. There wasn’t any music or opportunity for her to dance when they were trapped at the school, but now that she had free roam of the island all to herself (usually), they sure got to watch her dance now. She took full advantage of the speakers and stage at Titty Typhoon. She slid down the banisters of the stairs in the hotel. Kyoko even caught her twirl off the boardwalk into the water once. She was having fun and everyone loved it.   
When Byakuya caught her doing flips and spins to a classical piece at the Typhoon, he was hesitant to join her. He wanted to be with her, but he didn’t want to interrupt her. After a moment or three of thought, he decided that he did want to see her. So, he informed Makoto that he was going in for a few hours and to take him back out or let the next person know to take him out.   
Every time he did this, he forgot that the program set the avatars to wake up on the beach. Looking up at the blue sky, he sat up and began brushing the sand off of him. After gathering his bearings, he began making his way towards the Typhoon.  
Luckily, she was still there by the time he arrived. He could hear the music from outside the door. He wished so desperately that he could borrow her talent just for a second so he could open the door without drawing her attention, but he knew there was no way. Slowly, he popped open the door and by the time he slipped inside, the music had stopped and she was grinning over her shoulder at him from the control system.  
“I didn’t mean to interrupt you.” He said.  
“I know.” She was still grinning as she made her way over to him. “Does that mean you want me to keep going? Or…” Her grin slowly transitioned into a smirk. “Did you want to join? That could be fun.”  
“I could hardly keep up with you.” He said.  
“Something simpler then?” She was right up against him now. One of her hands took his and placed it on her waist. “Do you know how to waltz?”  
“I used to.” He wasn’t extraordinarily confident in his abilities, but he assumed the waltzing position anyway. Clearly, she had more faith in him than he did. Her eyes locked onto his and she slowly and gently began the steps and motions.   
Byakuya would like to say that even after years of not having practiced, he still remembered it quite well, but...well, to his credit he remembered most of it. Thankfully, she was going very slowly and the little spark of joy that lit up her eyes was well worth it.


	17. Homework

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya finds a girl in the library, but...why has he never seen her before?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know none of these have been in chronological order, but it's pretty safe to say that this would be the beginning of the timeline!

There was a girl in the library. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue. Byakuya would just find another space where he wouldn't be bothered. The issue was that he had never seen this girl before. He hadn't seen her in the hallways, in classes, at meals. Nothing. Part of him said he should just walk away. Just find a new spot so she won't bother you. The other part of him didn't understand and needed to understand. So, Byakuya walked right up to where the girl was working at her table and said, “Who are you?”  
She looked up at him with startled blue eyes. Setting down her pencil, she made several motions with her hands towards him, smiling all the while. Oh.   
“I'm sorry, I don't…”  
“Oh! That's fine!” She exclaimed. Oh! So, she could speak. “I'm Enokida. I was brought here as the 'Ultimate Shadow’, so most people haven't seen me around, but we do have class together!”  
“Oh. That makes sense.” She nodded happily, then went back to her work...that was it? She wasn't going to ask him about his life or his Ultimate or even his name? She wasn't going to... bother him at all? About anything? Huh. Well. “Do you mind if I...sit with you?”   
“Please do!” She sounded happy. But...if she wanted him to sit next to her, why didn't she ask?   
Taking his seat and setting down his books, he told her, “I'm Byakuya Togami. The Ultimate Affluent Progeny.” Just in case she wanted to know.  
“I know. But, it's nice to finally meet you!” Oh. Right...they had class together, didn't they? She probably knew from hearing him introduce himself to others...what else did she know?  
“So, the Ultimate Shadow, huh? What does that mean, exactly?”  
“Oh, it pretty much just means I'm really good at hiding. Being quiet. Blending in so that people just kind of gloss over me.”  
“Is that why nobody's met you yet?”  
“Well, not nobody.” She gestured towards him with her pencil. “We've met. And I know Chihiro and Asahina as well. But, yeah, for the most part, unless you're looking for me or actively focusing on me, people tend not to notice I'm there.”  
“Hmm. An... interesting talent.”  
“Thank you for thinking so.” She was grinning now. Then, she just...went back to her work. Byakuya was perplexed. She seemed happy to talk to him, but as far as he could tell, she didn't feel the need to do so. She was equally happy to just sit with him in silence. He opened one of his books and began doing his own work. It was silent in the library except for the sound of pages turning and pencils moving across paper. Yet, Byakuya found that he felt very...what would the word be? Satisfied? Contented, maybe. Either way, he was...glad to have her there. Having her there meant he wouldn't have to feel so alone; he could be around someone, but not have any pressure to talk or even recognize the fact that they were there. She didn't need anything from him. He felt...free.


	18. Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito finds Kida on the edge of a cliff after Mikan's execution.

After Mikan’s trial and execution, Kida just kind of...disappeared. Nobody saw her the next morning at breakfast. Hajime, Nagito, and Akane had all tried knocking on her door. Akane was the only one who had thought to look in her window.   
“Guys.” She called out. “She’s not in there.”  
“Oh.” Hajime said quietly. “We need to find her.”   
“On it.” Akana said confidently. With that, she took off running down the dock toward the hotel.   
“Okay. Um...I’m gonna check the old house.” Hajime said.  
“I’ll take the beach.” Nagito said calmly. He wasn’t extremely worried about the whole scenario. After all, Kida was the Ultimate Shadow, had just lost 3 of her friends (and had lost 4 before that) and had probably just come to terms with the fact that people on this island were willing to kill each other for various reasons. But, something was pulling at Nagito’s mind. Something that told him he might be wrong. Kida hadn’t avoided Nagito at all. And he was the first person to try and kill someone. Hell, she had regarded his release from chains with cool curiosity. She wasn’t threatened. She never had been. So...where was she?   
Nagito walked the beach for a little over an hour. It was far bigger than he originally knew about. It turned out the beach eventually extended to reveal a tall cliff. He was still walking at a fairly leisurely pace, but he found his heart had started to pound a little faster the closer he got to the cliff. Climbing it, he noticed a little, curled up figure perched at the very top, right on the ledge. Okay. That actually scared him a bit. Suddenly, he was running to the top of the cliff.   
She was there. Sitting at the edge with her legs curled up to her chest. If she had uncurled them, they would be dangling over the ledge. She wasn’t going to jump was she? He heard her laugh a little and she turned just enough over her shoulder that he could hear her. “You sound tired.”  
He gave a tired, breathless laugh that almost sounded like a sob. He was exhausted. For a couple reasons. “You scared everyone.”  
That got her attention. She turned fully around now, but that just meant her back was facing the drop-off and that somehow just made it worse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Why is everyone scared?”  
“Why are you here?”  
She smiled a little, like she wanted to call him out on not answering her question. “I didn’t know the beach had cliffs like this.” That wasn’t fair. She couldn’t avoid his question after he had avoided hers. He took a step closer to her.  
“Can you...come here? Please?” He held out a shaking hand to her, desperate to have her safe. Jeez. He didn’t even really know if she was in danger.  
Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips quirked up into another smile. She reached out and took his hand. He pulled her up and into him. Her arms wrapped around him and she nuzzled against his chest...why did that make him want to cry? He held her tightly for a moment before she pulled back a little. “Were you worried that I was going to kill myself?” She was almost laughing. Not like she was making fun of him, but more like...she was amused by the idea. Like she thought the idea of her committing suicide was silly. “You don’t need to worry about that, you know.” He didn’t know how to respond. Luckily, she had more to say. “This happened once before. Before the island.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I lost a very dear friend of mine. Someone I loved very much. He was killed. I became so scared of everyone around me that I just kind of...locked myself away and didn’t go around people for a while.” As she was talking, her grip on him had gotten tighter. “I guess...that was kind of what had happened now, but...I wasn’t actually scared. It was just like - my body remembered that other time and it made me run away because that was what I did. Like, some kind of muscle memory or something. I don’t know. I’m confused, too.” She laughed at the very end. Hearing her laugh was relaxing. He wanted to hear her laugh all the time. He brought his hands down her arms and took her hands in his. It was like holding ice.   
“You’re freezing!” He gasped.  
“Am I?” She sounded surprised too. “I guess it is pretty cold up here.”   
“Come down with me?” He was pleading with her. He knew that. But, he didn’t know what else to do.  
“Of course.” Her smile was bright and he trusted it without hesitation. It was quiet for the most part on the walk down. Nagito was still partially recovering from the shock of seeing her up on that ledge. Kida was the one to break the silence. “I miss Ibuki.” She said. “And Hiyoko. Mikan. Peko and Mahiru…” He looked over at her. Tears were starting to run down her face, but she was still smiling. But...this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.  
“No…” He said it quietly, like only he was meant to hear it. “Their deaths were supposed to create hope. But you look so full of despair...I don’t understand. You’re the most hopeful of all of us. This was...It’s supposed to be different.” He was interrupted by her laugh. She was grinning and wiping her eyes.   
“You’re kind of dorky, you know that, right?” She leaned her head gently against his shoulder. “People usually don’t feel hopeful when people die, Nagito. I know you want us to, but...that isn’t usually how it works. People are usually sad when people die. And that’s okay. It’s okay to be sad. I’m not going to be sad forever. And I am still hopeful about some things. I hope that everyone here will be kind to each other. I hope everyone stays safe. I hope everything and everyone turns out okay. I just...I’m just going to be sad that they’re gone for a while. Does that make sense?”  
He took a second to process everything. “...I think so.”  
She giggled and turned towards him. She tugged at his shoulder, pulling him down closer to her. She put one hand on the side of his face and placed a gentle kiss to his forehead. Pulling back, she said quietly, “It’s okay if it doesn’t right now.”  
He gave her a tired smile in return. Suddenly, Nagito was being shoved to the ground and there was another body pressing him into the sand. Whoever it was was screaming the whole time. “Don’t worry, Kida! I got him!” Slowly, the pressure lessened on his body and Nagito opened his eyes. Kida was dragging Akane away from him by the collar of her shirt. Akane looked nothing short of defeated and Nagito knew she could have come flying back at him if she wanted to, but she was just letting Kida gently drag her away instead.   
“Hush, Akane.” Kida said playfully. She pulled her down and gave her the same kiss on the forehead that she had given Nagito earlier. Akane’s eyes widened and her cheeks reddened just a little. “He was just the first one to find me and he was bringing me back to find you guys.” As she talked, she walked over to Nagito, grabbed his hand and pulled him up with ease.   
“You’re strong.” Nagito said in surprise.  
“Nah.” She grinned. “You’re just surprisingly light. We should dance sometime; I bet I could do some cool lifts with you.”  
“I’d like to see you try.” Akane laughed. She picked Kida up with one swift motion and tossed her over her shoulder. “Alright, let’s head back to the hotel or something and find Hajime and the others.” Akane carried Kida all the way back. Nagito trailed behind her with Kida looking into his eyes and blowing kisses the entire time.


	19. Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko programs Kida's dreams for the night.

Kida still dreamed on the island. Of course, everything that happened in her dreams were programmed on the spot by whoever was running them that night. Kyoko was in charge of her dreams tonight. She figured Kida must have been sick of the beach in some regard, so she decided to switch that up for her. The sand was now pink and instead of the ocean waves, the water became a still, clear lake. Kida seemed content with this. She lied down in the sand for a while, letting her hands run through the soft sand. Kyoko knew that Kida was fine being alone, but she so rarely got to see any of them anymore. Even tonight, she was currently asleep cuddled up to Byakuya, but he was asleep almost as soon as he got there. Work was always exhausting for everyone and they usually went to Kida for a break or a kind of vacation. She was relaxing and made people feel good in a way that was hard to describe. Kyoko and the rest of them felt lucky that they had been able to replicate that kind of feeling in her AI. It was one of the reasons they wanted her to help out with Hajime’s class.   
Typing in codes with quick fingers, Kyoko added in Nagito and Hajime swimming in the lake and Chiaki and Gundham on either side of her on the beach. She edited Kida’s outfit to put her in a nice, black one-piece swimsuit. Kyoko rested her head in her hands and watched contentedly for the next few hours as Kida chatted with Chiaki about the games she was playing, pet Gundham’s hamsters, and swam and played with Nagito and Hajime. It was nice. It was really nice, actually. This was what she deserved. She deserved a life of fun and friends and love. She deserved so much better than she got in life and Kyoko was so happy they could give it to her now.


	20. Why Are You Like This?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime snaps at Nagito. Kida snaps at Hajime for snapping at Nagito.

Nagito had tried talking to Hajime. Again. It never ended well and Hajime wasn’t sure why he kept trying. Hajime kept deflecting Nagito’s questions until, as always, Nagito started spewing some nonsense about how excited he was for the next murder and that the idea that he might be the one to die just excited him further. Hajime’s head snapped up towards him. “What is wrong with you? Why are you like this?” Nagito looked shocked. Then, Hajime watched his eyes flicker behind him while a smile crept its way onto his face. He felt a gentle tugging on the collar of his shirt, bringing him a couple steps back. He looked over to his left to see Kida pulling him back, away from Nagito. She was smiling sweetly as she turned to Nagito.   
“I’ll bring him back in a second.” With that, still dragging him by his collar, she lead him away towards the beach.  
“You can let go of me, you know.” He grumbled.  
“Will you stay if I do?” She asked. She didn’t sound angry, but Hajime felt like she was.  
“Yes.” He finally answered. She released his collar and they continued walking together. “Why did you do that?”  
“Why were you yelling at him?”   
“Wha- He was going on about how excited he was to die. What was I supposed to do?”  
“Hajime.” Woah. He had heard her say Nagito’s name like that when she was...scolding him, kind of. Was she scolding him right now? “You know how we can discern things like appropriate topics of conversation and appropriate reactions and social things like that?”  
“...yeah?” Where was she going with this?  
“Nagito can’t do that.” She told him. She said it so calmly. Like it was the easiest answer in the world. “He doesn’t know that death freaks people out the way it does. He doesn’t get that we don’t want people to die. He won’t know when he’s saying something inappropriate unless you tell him. Yelling at him just tells him that you’re mad at him or that he’s done something wrong, but it doesn’t tell him what. So...instead of yelling at him, just tell him that he’s upsetting you and why.” She looked off into the ocean for a moment. “In some ways, talking with Nagito is almost like talking with a child. He hasn’t had the opportunity to learn most social rules, but he is very smart and he cares about people. Please just know that he’s not doing it to be upsetting. He doesn’t know that he’s being upsetting. Just...tell him and he usually gets it. Okay?”  
That was…a lot to take in. He wasn't even sure he was up to it. But she was looking at him with such hopeful, trusting eyes. “...okay.”  
“Okay!” She grinned happily and took hold of his collar once more.  
“Wha- What are you doing?” He asked.  
“Taking you back to him!” She said simply. “I told him I'd bring you right back. We don't want to leave him waiting!”   
“Okay, fine, but you can let go of me.”  
“Are you going to go back to him willingly?” She had a twinkle in her eye that told him she already knew the answer.  
“... alright, I get it.” He sighed. She laughed a little and continued dragging him back to where Nagito was sitting on a bench.   
“Alright! Here you go!” She gave Hajime a little push in Nagito’s direction and he looked up at them with a little smile. Kida walked over to Nagito and started gently petting his hair, her eyes still on Hajime. “You guys play nice, okay?” She looked down at Nagito and tipped his head gently back. “I’ll see you later, okay?” Leaning down, she kissed his forehead gently, making him giggle. She took one last look at Hajime before wandering back to her cabin.   
“What did you guys talk about?” Nagito asked, still smiling.   
“Um…” Hajime mumbled. She taught me how to talk to you didn’t strike him as the best answer. “Not much.” He hesitantly took a seat next to Nagito. “Hey, Nagito?”  
“Hm?”  
“Can we...not talk about any future murders or deaths? Or you wanting to die? It’s...it kinda freaks me out...a lot and I’d rather not hear about it.”  
Nagito’s reaction was immediate. He sat bolt upright where he was, turned his whole body towards Hajime, and widened his eyes. “Oh! Hajime, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’ll try and keep that in mind.” He flashed him a grin. “What would you rather talk about?”   
Wow. It was...really that easy? Huh. Hajime didn’t stay for much longer, but for the following conversation he did have with Nagito it was...surprisingly bearable. Thank god for Kida. He’d have to get more of her tips and tricks on Nagito later.


	21. I'm Not That Short

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito goes to Kida's cabin for the first time.

“How have you never been to my cabin?” Kida asked as she and Nagito strolled down the boardwalk towards the cabins.   
“You’ve never invited me!” He defended.   
“Nagito, you’re always welcome in my cabin.”   
“Oh, I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid our other classmates might think it a little suspicious if I were to go into your cabin alone.” He ran his hand through his hair nervously.   
“They might. But, I’d always be available as an alibi.”  
“Maybe.” He said, quietly.  
“What do you mean, maybe? It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” She laughed. They had just arrived at her cabin and she was fishing her key out of her pocket.   
“Well...maybe you don’t intend to, but we are trapped on an island where people are being forced to kill each other.” He said uncomfortably.   
“Nobody’s being forced to do anything.” She said. It sounded like she was correcting him in a joking manner. Like all of this was just friendly banter. “And hey, I told you. I’m not going anywhere. Okay?” She smiled calmly at him before turning around and unlocking her door. She pushed it open and walked inside.   
It was beautiful inside. The lighting and colors were dark, letting her blend in easily with the walls and covers on her bed. It was just… “It’s so...tiny.”   
“What?” She asked accusingly. “What do you mean, tiny? It’s not tiny! You’re just a giant!” All of her furniture was almost half the size of what was in his cabin...which was fitting in a way considering she was half the size of him.   
“I’m pretty average, actually.” He laughed. “You’re just small,” he quickly added, “but in a good way! It works out pretty well since you’re the Ultimate Shadow! You can hide more easily! And Akane can carry you around, which I know you both really like.”   
She stood squinting at him for a while, then smirked broadly. “Nice save, Nagito.” She said. “Well, I suppose if you won’t fit in here, we could always go over to your cabin.”  
“Oh, mine’s actually pretty basic.” He laughed.   
“Well, the only thing really special about mine is how tiny it is. Yours can’t be too much different.”  
“You don’t have to-”  
“What if I want to?” Oh. That caught him off guard. “I mean, unless you aren’t comfortable with letting me in, obviously you don’t have to. I just wanted to see.”  
“Well...I guess so.” He said finally, smiling. She smiled back and came out of her cabin, locking the door behind her.   
“Hey. Just remember, if you change your mind part-way through, you don’t have to let me in.”  
“I know, but…” He thought for a moment. “I...want to let you in.” He said. She grinned excitedly and took his hand as they walked off towards his cabin.


	22. Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something goes wrong with Kida's programming.

Something was happening with Kida. Specifically, something had gone wrong with her programming. Makoto was working trying to figure out what happened. Once they knew that part they would know how to fix it. Byakuya was...terrified to say the least. The fear that something could go wrong with her programming was a constant, lingering fear. He was at Makoto's side the whole time, watching her through the cameras. She seemed dazed in a way. She was just wandering around the island, filtering her hands through the sand, going into and inspecting every cabin, looking through cupboards in the restaurant. It was like she had never seen them before.   
“Byakuya.” Makoto said suddenly. Byakuya stepped away from the monitors to come over to Makoto. On his screen, he had pulled up the space where they had programmed in her memories from when she was alive. It was blank. Everything was gone. Even the memories she had created and saved from her time on the island.   
“How did this happen?” Byakuya demanded.   
“I don't know!”  
“Fix it!” Byakuya said, storming off down the hall.  
“Where are you going?”  
Byakuya came back as abruptly as he had started to leave. “I don't know what's going to happen when she remembers everything. She shouldn't be alone when it happens.” With that, he was off again. Makoto shook everything off as well as he could and returned to work.  
Several minutes later, Byakuya woke up on the beach. Choosing this time to brush the sand off as he went, he ran as fast as he could to the restaurant, where he had last seen her.   
Sure enough, she was there wandering around aimlessly. Of course, even without her memories, her personality still remained intact. She heard him coming and turned around before he could reach 15 feet away from her. She still used sign instead of speaking aloud.  
“Oh! Hello!” Even when she didn't know him, her smile was still so bright and joyful. It was going to be hell if she had to remember every terrible thing that happened to her. “I didn't know there were other people on this island. I think you're the first one I've seen all day.”  
“Yes... I'm sorry about that. We must have been going in opposite directions.” He didn't want to tell her now. Her memories would come back eventually. He knew it.  
“I'm Enokida! What's your name?”  
He knew it was coming. It still hurt to hear it. “My name is Byakuya.” Something flashed in her eyes then.   
“Oh. We...went to school together. Didn't we?”  
Byakuya's heart leapt. Whatever Makoto was doing was working. “We did, yes.”  
More blank stares from her for a moment. “Oh! Gosh, I can't believe I forgot! Byakuya, I'm so sorry. Where is everyone else?” Her eyes were still bright. He wanted to keep it that way. He briefly considered just telling Makoto to stop there. Don't bring back those memories. She doesn't need them. She needs wide smiles and wonder in her eyes. She needs to be happy. He didn't act fast enough, though. Her face dropped suddenly. “Oh god…” Her eyes were already filling with tears.  
“Kida, maybe you should sit down.” She obeyed him without responding or really acknowledging that he had spoken at all. Her eyes remained fixed on the table as her hands slowly signed, “Is Sayaka dead?”  
He turned her head towards him so she could see his response. “...yes. I’m sorry.”   
“I remember…” She started. “I remember so much about you.” She was crying now, but she almost laughed after that. “I remember loving you. And…” She paused, her expression freezing with her hands. “I remember being afraid of you. Of everyone...what happened?”  
Makoto had skipped over it. He had missed Chihiro’s death and trial completely. She didn’t remember finding Chihiro’s body. Didn’t remember hearing about Byakuya’s involvement. Didn’t remember telling him to stay away from her. She knew she was scared, but she didn’t have a reason.  
Byakuya saw the moment Makoto finally added that memory back in. Her eyes widened, her cheeks turned red, and her mouth fell gently open. She clapped one hand over her mouth and gripped her shoulder with the other. This was horrible. Byakuya had never seen her react like this when she was still alive, but if she was reacting like this now...it only meant that he had missed it. She was falling apart and he was just carrying on with his day. Is it any wonder she killed herself without anyone noticing? Now, though, he could try helping. He reached out a hand to her and hesitated only when he noticed his hands shaking. When had that happened? The second his hand made contact with her shoulder, she gave him a hard shove away from her. He didn’t try again after that.   
“They’re all dead...oh god, they’re all dead…” Her whole body was shaking at this point. There had to be a better way to do this, but god help him, Byakuya had no idea what it was.   
“I’m so sorry…” He said, his voice barely above a whisper.  
Suddenly, she was still. Eerily still. Her eyes were staring dead ahead and he couldn’t figure out why for a second. “Am I dead?” Oh. That’s why. This part, he wouldn’t have to explain to her. Soon after, Makoto would add in the memory of her waking up on the island and Byakuya explaining everything to her. Sure enough, a small smile crept its way onto her face as tears continued falling from her eyes. Her hand reached blindly out to him and he wasn’t sure she even knew she was doing it. He took her hand in his and held it tightly. “They’re all okay, right? They woke up in the end?”   
Byakuya breathed a sigh of relief. This part should be easy. She was getting to the part of her life where she couldn’t be hurt and was surrounded by people who loved her. “Yes. They’re all awake now. They come to visit you when they can. We all love you so much.”   
“I love you too.” She signed, smiling just slightly. Images flashed in her mind of Ibuki’s laugh, a night of fireworks, sneaking around with Chiaki, and Nagito’s hand in hers. “I’m tired.”   
“You must be.” He stood from his chair, beckoning her to come with him. She did the same and they made their way down towards her cabin. Byakuya broke the silence. “I don’t know why any of that happened. I don’t know why you lost your memories...but I’m going to make sure it never happens again.”   
She leaned into him a little as she walked. “Thank you.”


	23. Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime confronts Kida after her..."execution."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the idea that Nagito confronts Kida about her not being in the handbook he finds in chapter 4, him confronting her about it, eventually uncovering her death, him implying that maybe they all deserve to die, and her snapping his neck to keep everyone else safe/to keep Nagito from ruining his own life. I know this /majorly/ messes with canon, but I just thought it was a cool idea! I haven't officially written that scene or the trial out past anything more than notes, but depending on the circumstances, maybe I will someday.

Kida’s execution was...confusing. And unsettling. Nobody liked it. Not to say that they liked any of the executions, but there was something...off about Kida’s. She wasn’t killed. She wasn’t even kicked off the island. Monokuma simply had her thrown in her cabin, locked the door, and barricaded everything so she couldn’t escape. It was more like she was imprisoned as opposed to being executed.  
That wasn’t all, though. There was so much wrong about Kida’s entire trial. They still didn’t know why she had met with Nagito. They didn’t know why Monokuma couldn’t execute her. In short, Hajime had a few questions for Kida and he was unsettlingly glad that she was still here.  
So, he went down to her cabin. It was strange. It could have been abandoned and they wouldn’t know the difference. The door and windows were blocked off with wooden boards. He did notice, however, that one of her windows had been left open. Unsure of how to get her attention, he hesitated. Was he supposed to knock? Call out for her like he was summoning some kind of genie? Geez...he didn’t expect this to be this hard.   
“Hajime.” His head snapped towards the open window. He could very faintly make out her eyes peering through the spaces between the boards. “Did I scare you?” He could hear her smile in her voice.   
“No! Of course not.” He was lying. She giggled and he knew she knew. Still feeling awkward and like he was breaking some kind of unspoken law, he came over and crouched by the window so he could be at eye level with her. “I need to ask you something.”  
“You need to ask me a couple things, actually.” He leaned back from her, confused and a little concerned as to how she was so sure of that. “I’ve already had this conversation with Nagito. I know what you’re going to ask already.”  
“You’ve…” He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Okay. So...you said something during your trial. Well, Monokuma did, really. Um...he said he couldn’t execute you.”  
“That’s right.”  
“Why is that?”  
“You know already. Nagito did too. He just didn’t want to say it out loud.”  
“Say...what out loud?”  
She giggled again from behind the boards. “You don’t need to be so nervous. I’ll never lie to you. Maybe I won’t tell you certain things, but it’s just because you need to tell them to yourself first. Does that make sense?” Did it? He wasn’t sure, but he was still kind of nervous. “Why do you think I couldn’t be executed, Hajime?”  
“I don’t know...the only thing I can think of is that it was against the rules or something.”  
“That’s right!”   
“Huh?” That...couldn’t be. “But...there’s no rule in the rulebook about you or anything else, really that would prevent you from being executed.”  
“No, there isn’t.”  
“This doesn’t make sense.”  
“So, there’s a rule that makes it so I can’t be executed, but it’s not in the book. Sort of an unspoken rule, if you will. What does that tell you?”  
“That...you and Monokuma already know each other or that you were already on the island earlier or...wait. Didn’t you say you weren’t part of our class? You were part of Byakuya’s class, right?”  
“Yes.”  
“But...your picture wasn’t on the page of the list of survivors.”  
“No, it wasn’t.” Hajime took a minute to sit back on his heels. This was too much. The longer they talked, the more impossible conclusions he came to. “What are you thinking about?” She sounded so sweet. It made him want to cry.  
“If I go back into the files and flip through the list of victims…”  
“You can say it.” She was still smiling behind there. How?  
“You’ll be there, won’t you?”  
“Hey.” He looked up to see her gaze through the dark of her room. Her eyes flickered downwards and he looked down to find her pale hand reaching through another space in the boards. She pointed down towards the ground where a sharp bit of wood had chipped off of one of the boards when they were being nailed in. He picked it up, unsure of what she wanted with it. Her fingers curled in, forming a fist and she tipped her hand back towards the ground, exposing her wrist.   
“No.”   
“Hajime. It’s okay.” He...he couldn’t do this. Even still, as he was thinking up all kinds of protests, he was raising the shard of wood up to her wrist, aiming the pointed side towards her skin. Holding her hand gently in his, he took one look back at her trusting eyes and thrust the wood down. His hand froze mid-air. Looking down, he found that the section of her arm that was surrounding the shard had...dissolved into static. It wasn’t physically there anymore. Like she was some kind of hologram or something. She opened her hand, placed it palm down in his, and told him calmly, “I can’t be hurt here. Hard to kill me if you can’t hurt me.” Hajime wanted to scream. Instead, he stood abruptly and threw the bit of wood as far away from him as he could manage. He turned so Kida was now behind him and tangled his hands in his hair. Was Kida...not real? Was she just some kind of hologram or hallucination? But she couldn’t be...she was dead. A ghost, then?  
“I - I don’t understand.”  
“Hajime.” Again, that whisper.   
“What?” He snapped, turning back around.   
“I love you. You will understand, even if you like to pretend you don’t. I know it’s scary. Just trust in me that everything will be okay.”  
“Oh!” It was...Akane? She was sweating and slightly out of breath, like she had run here. “Hajime. Sorry, I uh...didn’t mean to interrupt.”  
“Hi, Akane!” Kida waved from where her hand still was reaching out between the boards.   
“Hey!” Akane grinned back.  
“I’m...I’m sorry, I uh - I need to go.” Hajime didn’t wait for a response from either of them. He just ran. Ran all the way back to the beach where he had first opened his eyes to see Nagito’s face framed by the beautiful blue of the sky. He fell to his knees and it hit him just then - things could have been good. He and Nagito could have been friends. Everyone could have gotten along. Nobody had to die. Nobody had to get hurt. For god’s sake, this all started with making friends and going swimming. Things...things were good. They were good and now the first friend he made here had a broken neck and lipstick left on his hand by a girl he was in love with who had died god knows how long. He didn’t want this. He wanted blue skies and Ibuki’s loud music and Nagito’s rambling and god help him, he even missed Hiyoko’s insults. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be good and it wasn’t. Unable to do anything else, Hajime collapsed into the sand, curled in on himself, and wept for all of the lost possibilities and collapsed dreams that happened on this island.


	24. Why Are We Here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first motive has been given. Everyone is scared.

The world was quiet. People surrounding her were talking, but not making any noise. They tried talking to her, but she never responded. While the room had dissolved into panic and angry accusations, Kida had silently stepped away from the group and sat herself down in front of one of the windows. All of the videos had been watched and, needless to say, the given ‘motive’ had taken its desired effect. Everyone was afraid of each other. Kida, though, didn’t seem afraid. She just seemed...distracted.   
Finally, Leon asked where she had gone. Whether he was panicked or simply curious, she’ll never know. Hina looked over and found where she had sat herself in front of the metal plate that covered what should have been a window. She was staring endlessly into it, mouth closed tightly. They might have missed her breathing if they hadn’t paid close enough attention.   
“Hey, Kida?” Hina asked softly.   
“Leave her alone.” Mondo called out. He was one of the only ones that hadn’t approached her. “Kid’s prob’ly just scared shitless.”  
Hina paid no mind to his words, waving her hand in front of Kida’s eyes and shaking her gently by the shoulder. Suddenly, Kida’s hand reached blindly out for Hina, seemingly not seeking any part of her in particular, just looking to touch something. Her eyes remained locked on the blocked off window. In that moment, she could have been replaced with a puppet guided by strings and she would have moved the same way. Hina finally grabbed her hand and Kida became still once more. After a silent moment, she took her hand away to sign to her.   
“There are cases of children, after having been separated from their parents, forgetting what their parents look like. They don’t always recognize them when they become reunited.” That was...unsettling. None of them knew for certain how long they would be here, but...forgetting their own parents? Their family members? How long would that take? “Why are we here?”  
“We’re here to compete.” Celeste had come up behind Hina so Kida could see her. “They brought us here because we’re the best at what we do. They just want to find out who is truly the best.” Kida had frozen again. Instead of the window, she had now fixated her gaze on Celeste who, despite being known for making others uncomfortable, shifted her gaze slowly towards the floor, clasping her hands in front of her.   
“Hey.” Hina brought her attention back to her. “Let me take you back to your room.” Hina attempted to pull her up, but Kida rushed backwards away from her. “Right.” She turned and looked around at the small crowd in the room. “Does anyone else wanna come with us?”  
“I’ll go.” Byakuya volunteered.   
“Yeah, I’ll take her.” Mondo said, standing from where he had been leaning against one of the desks. A couple people, Hina included, turned towards him with questioning expressions. “Come on, we’re all freaked out here. Stop giving me shit for wanting to help.” He came forward and stood in front of Kida. He could have crushed her if he really wanted to. “I dunno if you can hear me or whatever, but everyone here is gonna chill out and everything is gonna be fine. Understand?” As he spoke, he gave a few pointed looks to everyone and they all nodded. Even Kida gave a little nod of her own. “Good. Now, let’s go.” He headed out into the hall and disappeared from view. Byakuya took one of Kida’s hands and Hina grabbed the other and the three of them guided her back safely to her room.


	25. Not My Fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito has been accused, but proven guilty of attempted murder at worst. The next person on the suspect list, courtesy of Nagito, is Kida.

The suspect list was thus: Nagito, for obvious reasons, and Kida. However, Nagito, though having lost his mind during the trial and confessing to attempted murder, admitted that though he wanted to, he had not successfully murdered Byakuya Togami. That being the case, fingers were now beginning to point in Kida’s direction...and Nagito had been the cause of it all.   
“If I’m remembering correctly, I seem to recall Kida saying something a little suspicious earlier. But, forgive me, I can’t quite remember just what it was.”  
“That’s not true.” Kida said with an easy smile.   
“Uh huh. How are we supposed to believe that?” Akane snapped.  
“No, I meant it’s not true that Nagito doesn’t remember. Your memory is actually quite good, Nagito.”   
“That may be so.” Nagito said slyly. “But that doesn’t mean yours isn’t better.” People’s heads had been turning quickly between the two and their eyes rested now on Kida, waiting for her response.  
“How do you mean?”  
“Think about it. My memory might be good, but I still don’t remember what happened during our school years.”   
Oh. “Do you mean to imply that Kida...does remember?” Sonia asked timidly.  
“What? There’s no way. It’s not possible! They took all our memories away.” Kazuichi added.  
“Maybe not all of them.” Nagito said. “Try and remember to when we were first meeting each other for the first time.”  
“Oh! Is it ‘cuz she was talking with her hands?” Hiyoko called out.  
“She didn’t wake up on the beach like the rest of us…” Fuyuhiko recalled.  
“Wait, didn’t she say something weird about meeting Byakuya?” Akane asked.  
“That’s right!” Hajime said, suddenly. “When she first met Byakuya in front of us at the beach, he said his name and Kida disagreed.” They all remembered it now. ‘I’m Byakuya Togami.’ ‘No, you’re not.’   
“You do have a good memory!” Kida said happily. “But, I hardly see how that was suspicious or how it could raise any red flags for me having killed him.”  
“How would you have any memory of Byakuya when none of us did?” Nagito asked.  
“We went to school together.” Kida answered simply.  
“We all went to school together. None of us remember each other. Do you remember anyone else?” Fuyuhiko asked.  
Kida hesitated before saying, “I don’t. But let me just be perfectly clear that this absolutely wasn’t my fault.”  
“How can we be sure of that?” Nagito asked.  
“Yeah, you’re definitely small enough to fit under the house.” Kazuichi pointed out.   
“Wait…” Hajime paused. “Ibuki, who did you hear again when the power went out?” With a sigh, Ibuki repeated the names once more. Kida wasn’t on the list.   
“You might not have heard me, people rarely do, but Ibuki knows I was there.” Kida insisted.   
“Oh...right…” Ibuki laughed nervously.  
“Something you’re not telling us?” Fuyuhiko snapped.  
“She uh…” Ibuki trailed off.  
“I was holding onto her arm the whole time.” Kida said. “If you’ll check the pictures, you should see that we were standing next to each other. I simply grabbed hold of her when everything went dark and didn’t let go until the lights came back on.”  
“Yeah...kinda hard to accuse her, I guess, hehehe…” Ibuki laughed.   
So the trial went on and eventually, everyone forgot about the point Nagito had made. Kida had memories that she shouldn’t have.

“You knew it wasn’t me.” Nagito hadn’t heard her approach him until she was just about right behind him. He stopped and turned around to look at her.  
“What makes you say that?” He asked.  
“You’re very smart. You knew it was Teruteru the moment the trial began.”   
“I wouldn’t say that.” He tried to walk away from her, but she stopped him again.  
“They’re not going to be very happy with you.”  
“You don’t seem upset.”  
“Should I be?”  
“I did try to kill someone.”  
“Who hasn’t?”  
“Have you?”  
She smiled and turned her head so she could just see him out of the corner of her eye. “Still wanna be friends?”  
“I never said I wanted to be friends in the first place.” Again, he tried to leave.  
“You pay attention to me. You notice things I do and then you remember them.”  
Nagito stopped again, but didn’t turn towards her this time. “So?”  
“So...I’m the Ultimate Shadow. People don’t generally notice me unless they’re trying to. You’ve been very intentionally paying attention to me. I wonder why.” He turned to face her, prepared with a response and everything, but by the time he had turned around, she had vanished. Hm. Among the many things he had concluded about this girl, he did have to say that she did make a very good shadow.


	26. Kill Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida shouldn't be able to get sick, but the Despair Disease seems to act as another kind of virus.

Ibuki was taking commands like some kind of brainwashed soldier. Hiyoko couldn’t remember Mikan. Akane was a sobbing mess. Nagito was spewing conspiracy theories left and right. Kida...Kida couldn’t keep quiet anymore. Kida shouldn’t have been able to get sick, but unfortunately, a bug had gotten into her system and according to Monokuma, had been stricken with the screaming disease. That didn’t make a ton of sense since, currently, she was just yelling a lot and laughing very loudly. When questioned, Monokuma replied with, “Oh, just give it time!”   
Upon seeing Nagito collapse, foaming at the mouth, that’s when it first started. Kida full on shrieked. Nobody was prepared for that. She hadn't even reacted that way upon seeing her friends’ corpses. Yet, here she was, screaming and sobbing on the floor, crying out for someone to help.  
Finally, the four of them were brought to the hospital where Mikan was caring for them. Nagito's room was first in the hallway. Though Hajime and Fuyuhiko thought Kida's room would be next, Mikan had actually put Kida in the very last room in the hallway. At first they didn't understand why Mikan would isolate her like that.  
“Hey.” Fuyuhiko said as they walked down the hallway towards Nagito's room. “Do you hear that?”  
Hajime listened for a second before he heard it. Very faintly, you could hear the torturous sounds of someone screaming, sobbing, and occasionally laughing. Suddenly, he was able to make out a single word from the unbearable shrieking. “Hajime!”  
Hajime took one glance at Fuyuhiko before bolting down the hall. As they got closer, the screaming got louder, but eventually they heard someone else's voice mixed in as well. Behind them, Mikan was frantically running after them, calling out for them to stay away from her.  
“Wha-what do you mean?” Hajime yelled as Mikan finally reached them in the hallway.   
“She clearly needs help, Mikan!” Fuyuhiko shouted. All the while, Kida's screaming had not stopped.  
“She - she's been doing that this whole time. She doesn't s-sleep. She just... I'm sorry…” Tears began to run down her face. “I don't know how to help her. I took out all the m-medical equipment from her room and...and I locked her in. I just didn't want her to hurt herself.” Her sobbing resumed as she took off running back towards the front of the hallway. With just the two of them, their attention was once more drawn to Kida's shrieks and wailing.  
“Mika-an! Nagito! Mi-i-ikan!” She went on wailing wordlessly for a moment before transitioning to crazed laughter. Goosebumps raised on Hajime's arms and he glanced helplessly at her door.  
“Fuck this.” Fuyuhiko said, determination in his eyes. He stepped towards the door, but before he could reach it to unlock it, Hajime grabbed his arm. “What? Do you think she would really-”  
“Mikan! Kill me, ple-ease! Agh-hah, Nagito-o!” There was a silent moment where she took a breath before she started cackling again. In a moment of pure desperation, Hajime glanced inside the room through the little window in the door. It was a disaster, pure and simple. Whatever Mikan had left in the room had been torn, thrown, and shattered. Kida herself was curled up against the wall beside the door, face wet with tears, hands gripping her own arms tightly enough that he was sure she would bruise, her head was leaned back, eyes wild while she laughed uncontrollably. Suddenly, her hands came up to cover her ears, a pained look crossed her face, and she started wailing again. Hajime stepped away from the door and Fuyuhiko immediately took his place.  
“Jesus…” He muttered, stepping away as well. “We should go.” Without looking back, he took off down the hallway. 

The sickness wore off. Everyone got better. Ibuki and Hiyoko were found dead. It wasn’t until they had already started investigating that Nagito asked where Kida was.  
There was a moment of silence while everyone looked around for her before Fuyuhiko spoke up. “Is she still locked up?”  
“I…” Mikan stuttered.  
“What do you mean, ‘locked up’?” Nagito questioned.  
“Mikan. Did you leave her in her room?” Fuyuhiko snapped. Mikan burst into tears, sputtering apologies. Fuyuhiko took off running back to the hospital, Hajime and Nagito trailing behind him.   
They finally made it to her door, Fuyuhiko’s hand flying to the lock on the outside of the door. The second his hand touched it, he froze. “Wait...what the fuck?”   
“What? What is it?” Hajime asked, still panting. In place of a response, Fuyuhiko simply turned the handle on the door, opening it easily.   
“I thought you said she was locked in.” Nagito said.  
“She was.” Fuyuhiko insisted. He slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside. Hajime and Nagito followed him in. They didn’t have to go very far. She was still curled up against the wall by the door where they had last seen her. Her eyes were locked onto the wall at the other end of the room.   
“Hey...Kida? Are you okay?” Hajime asked cautiously. Her eyes flickered between the wall and the floor for a few seconds, then landed on Nagito.  
“Where is Mikan?” She practically whispered as she spoke.  
They all glanced at each other. Hajime knelt down in front of her and told her everything. He walked her through the video he had seen, finding Ibuki’s body, finding Hiyoko, and what they had found so far at the club. She simply watched him and listened quietly through all of it.  
Her eyes flicked back over towards Nagito again. “Where is Mikan?” She repeated.  
“Back at the club, I think.” Hajime said. “Why?”  
“I just need to see her.” Kida stood up, surprisingly sturdy.  
“Hey, be careful. You haven't eaten or slept in days, maybe you should-” Hajime started.  
“I'm okay!” She said, her features showing nothing but pure joy.   
“Hold on a second.” Nagito said, staying by her side as she began to leave her room. “What do you mean? Why haven't you been eating or sleeping? Why were you locked in that room?”  
“I was sick. Just like you.” She said it with a smile, as if she hadn't been shrieking for the past three days. “I was infected with the 'screaming disease’ so I just...kinda screamed non-stop.” She gave a shy kind of laugh at the end of it. “Mikan locked me in because she was scared I would hurt myself.”  
“Your door wasn't locked.” Nagito pointed out.   
“Huh. Weird.” Kida said simply.

They walked to the crime scene. Kida was able to do an investigation of her own, refusing to change out of her hospital gown because it 'saved time.’   
The trial went on for a short time before someone asked for reports on how the other patients, besides Ibuki, had been doing.   
“Hajime, you said that you saw Ibuki wandering around the halls that night. Is it possible that one of the other patients was also out and around?” Sonia proposed.   
“Nagito was barely conscious all night.” Fuyuhiko pointed out.  
“I was in my room the whole time.” Akane said.  
“Kida was locked up all night, right?” Kazuichi asked.  
“No!” Hajime interrupted. “She wasn't.”  
“By the time we got to her room this morning, her door had been unlocked.” Nagito said.  
“Then, it's possible that she could have left in the midst of night.” Gundham said.  
“Not necessarily.” Hajime said. “We know that her door was unlocked this morning, but we don't know when it was unlocked.”  
“I do.” Kida spoke up. “I might have been sick at the time, but I was still conscious and aware. Mikan came into my room maybe an hour before Hajime said he saw the video.”   
“Mikan came into you room?” Kazuichi asked. “What did she want? Wait, wasn't she the one that locked you in?”  
“She was, yes.” Kida confirmed.  
“What were you doing in her room, Mikan?” Fuyuhiko snapped.   
“I - I just came in to-to check in on her. I was afraid she-she would hurt herself- I…” Mikan trailed off.  
“No you didn't.” Kida said. “You had already taken everything out of my room that I could use to hurt myself. There was no reason for you to come in and check on me.” She tilted her head and leaned towards Mikan a little. “Do you want to tell them? Or should I?”  
“I - I don't know w-what you're talking about…”  
“Fine.” Kida said with a shrug. “Mikan came into my room this morning and attacked me.”   
“What?” Kazuichi nearly yelled.   
“I don't know what you're talking about!” Mikan cried out.  
“She had tried to kill me. But it didn't work.”   
“Stop it!”   
“I don't know if that means she actually killed anyone, though. Nagito tried killing Byakuya, but that didn't mean he killed him. So, I'm not saying jump to conclusions, I'm just saying that it could be taken into consideration.”  
“That's a good point.” Nagito said. “Let's look at what else we know before we go around accusing people.”

Mikan ended up being the blackened. As was almost routine at this point, before her execution, she ended up ranting and raving and insulting everyone.   
“And her,” She said, wheeling on Kida. “She's not what you think she is. She doesn't belong here, with us. She was begging to be killed. It was supposed to be easy. But she wouldn't die! She won't die!”

Mikan's entire speech was haunting, but Nagito took particular note of what took place between her and Kida. He found her as soon as everyone began to disperse and head off back to their cabins.  
“I have some questions.” He said, coming up directly behind her. She was still standing, facing the screen where Mikan’s death had been displayed.   
“I know.” She lowered her head with a smile.  
“Hajime and Fuyuhiko said you were screaming my name, Mikan’s, and Hajime’s. Why?”  
“I was scared.” Kida answered, turning and looking up to meet his gaze. “You saw that she was sick and so did I. Last I had seen you, you were unconscious and I figured you would be the easiest target. I didn’t want you to go. I don’t want anyone to go.”  
“Why were you asking her to kill you?”  
“You were an easy target, but if I was an easier target, then maybe she would leave you alone.” She giggled at the end of her statement. “Kinda worked, right?”  
“She said you wouldn’t die.” Ah. Yes. Kida had been dreading having to address that.   
“Well…” She began. “Just because I wanted to draw her attention away from you didn’t mean I actually wanted to die. You’d be surprised at how hard I can fight for survival, even if I’m not big or strong like some of the other people here.” She laughed again and it sounded natural despite how shaky she felt.  
“Hm.” Nagito hummed, tilting his head back while keeping his eyes locked on her.  
“Hey.” She said happily. “You don’t have to believe me. But...I’ve never lied to you.”  
He continued staring for another moment before relaxing with a laugh. “I believe you. If anyone here is happy to be alive, it’s you, so I can’t see you exactly giving up any time soon.”  
“Exactly!” She grinned back. “Do you wanna head back to the cabins?”  
“Sure!” They started walking off together. “I’m glad she didn’t kill you.” He said it so quietly, even he couldn’t tell if he actually wanted her to hear it or not. Of course, being the Ultimate Shadow, she heard everything. She seemed to pick up on his uncertainty though and settled on a shy smile instead of an actual response.


	27. Bloodless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida is dead. The monitor room tells them otherwise, but their dreams won't let them forget.

There was no blood when Kida died. It was clean. There was nothing obscene or shocking about what they saw when they opened her door. The fact that it wasn’t that way in their dreams should have tipped them off that it wasn’t real.  
Hina dreamt of parties. She dreamt of feasts and music and rooms full of laughter. Kida danced and drank and Hina swore she had never seen her happier. Hina dreamt of Kida lurching forward suddenly, a lash appearing on the front of her body as if she had been whipped. Another lash tore through her flesh, pushing her from behind but marking her on her front. She made a choked noise but kept her mouth closed as blood spilled past her lips. People rushed around her as she fell to her knees, red flowing over her pale skin and pooling on the floor. Hina woke up screaming and thrashing and spent the rest of her night wailing, tearing her fingers through her hair.  
Makoto dreamt of quiet days in the library. He dreamt of stacks of books and Kida smiling, one hand turning pages and one holding Byakuya’s hand. His eyes were locked on the page he was currently reading, but he could see her out of the corner of his eye. He noticed when the slash opened across her neck, splattering the table and his face with blood. Of course he noticed. He just wasn’t able to force himself to move to help her or even look up from his book. His body wasn’t obeying any of his commands and he was forced to watch her slowly bleed out in her seat, still clutching Byakuya’s hand. If he could just look up for god’s sake then he could help. None of them looked up until she had been dead for several minutes. Upon awakening, Makoto took off running in a wild panic towards the control room.  
Byakuya’s dreams were a little different. In Hina’s and Makoto’s dreams, Kida had been killed. She hadn’t been willing. The only one unwilling in his dreams was himself. Byakuya dreamt of Kida’s bedroom at Hope’s Peak. He dreamt of her stripping in front of him, displaying herself to him before grabbing the glass cup from her bedside table. He dreamt of Kida smashing the glass and picking up the largest shard from the pile. He wasn’t able to reach her, of course. There was a thick glass wall blocking him off from her, but making sure he could see everything. He watched her carve into her own flesh. It was the same sequence every time. It started with her stomach, then she moved onto her chest. She followed up with her lips, her wrists, and finally thrusted the glass into the side of her neck before collapsing to the ground. Byakuya woke up in a cold sweat, feeling more exhausted than he had when he went to bed. He stood up from his bed and stumbled his way to the control room where he meets an equally tired looking Makoto sitting at the monitors. One glance at the monitors tells Byakuya that Makoto was watching Kida. She was sleeping safely in her bed, so there wasn’t really any reason to be watching her. Her dreams had already been set up for the night and whoever had been on the night watch had probably just left to take a break from it. Makoto turned and met Byakuya’s eyes and they both knew. Makoto turned his eyes back to the monitors and listened to Byakuya walk off towards the simulation tubes.


	28. It Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone wakes up from the simulation. Kida doesn't wake up with them.

People were confused when they woke up. Some of them knew about Chiaki and fewer knew about Kida. Makoto and Hina had to sit everyone down and explain. Chiaki was an AI. Kida was dead.   
Hiyoko and Mikan cried. Fuyuhiko cursed them out and demanded proof. Ibuki just about passed out. People were upset, understandably, but...really there was nothing they could do. They took them all to the monitor room where they could see her living her life on the island.  
“You guys can still visit her if you want.” Hina said.  
“I thought we could never go back. Our avatars were destroyed or whatever, right?” Akane asked.  
“Those ones were, but we based those on your younger selves. You guys are older now. We can make some updated versions for you.” Makoto said. People seemed a little happier upon hearing she wasn’t exactly gone forever.  
So everyone went on with their lives. They healed up from being in the tubes for so long. They got set up with the Future Foundation. Things were...okay, at the very least.   
But that didn't mean things weren't hard. It was surprisingly easy to forget the reality of things. Kida had disappeared on occasion on the island. It wasn't a big deal usually. Now, it just felt like they simply weren't looking hard enough. Surely she had just run off somewhere and they needed to pay close attention to everything to find her. But that wasn't how this worked anymore. They all knew where she was. They knew they could see her through the monitors, on the island.   
Akane became a regular visitor of the monitor room. She would come in the middle of the night, looking exhausted, prepared with a list of questions. Was she the same in real life? How many friends did she have? Was she happy? Did she suffer when she died? She knew all about how she died. She had read her file a hundred times over and even asked Kyoko if she could keep it. Nobody asked why she always came at night. Maybe she had nightmares. Maybe she couldn't sleep without answers. They weren't quite sure.

There was a talk about who should talk to Nagito about what happened between him and Kida. Kyoko and Byakuya were both willing to do it. Sonia volunteered. Hajime flat out insisted. Everyone agreed that Nagito liked Hajime the best and he would take it better from him over anyone else.  
So Hajime sat down with Nagito. He told him slowly and as gently as he could, but he didn't sugar coat it. Kida killed him. She snapped his neck, admitted it in the trial almost immediately, and was imprisoned for it.   
Nagito just kind of...deflated. He had slumped back into his chair and was staring at one of the corners of the table between them. He slid one hand up his arm as he spoke, “Did it make her happy?”  
“No.” Hajime said. “She did it to protect us. She didn't do it to hurt you. She knew the whole time that it was a simulation. She just... didn't want you hurting any of us.”  
“So she just...took me out of the simulation, more or less?”  
“Yeah, kinda.”  
He brightened up within an instant. “That's great, then! I was saying the whole time that if killing me brought hope to you guys, then you should! She was just ambitious enough to actually do it.” He ended with a laugh.  
“So...are you...I mean, are you okay?” Hajime asked.  
“Of course! I haven't seen her again yet. They've been keeping me out, but not telling me why.”  
“This was why.”  
“Oh! Well, if that's all, then do you think I could see her now?”  
“Uh, probably?”  
“Great! I'm gonna head down now then. Thanks for telling me, Hajime!” He walked away as he spoke and soon disappeared down the hall. 

Nagito was woken up several nights later by an insistent knocking at his door. He slid out of bed, running his hands through his hair as he took slow steps towards his door. Upon opening it, he was met with an equally tired, crying Akane. She wasted no time in explaining herself.  
“Hey. I know we're not really friends and you're still super weird but I just - I just miss Kida and I keep thinking about how she's not here with us and - and I was going to go down to the monitor room just to see her and I know you two were basically dating or whatever and I just - I didn't know where else to go - Did you want to come with me?” Nagito wasn't sure she took a breath the whole time, she was talking so fast.   
Still half asleep, he took a minute to process everything before coming up with a response. “Sure,” he smiled, stepping out and closing the door. They walked quietly down the halls, Akane wiping her eyes and face.  
“Are you oka-”  
“Shut up!” She snapped. “You're dead if you tell anyone about this.”  
“Aww, Akane. It's okay to be sad. Kida told me once when she was talking about missing people that sometimes you just have to be sad and that's okay. Right?”  
“...right.” They spent the rest of the walk in silence.  
They came to the monitor room to find that Byakuya was the one on the night watch tonight. He looked up when they came in, then redirected his eyes to the screens. Akane sat down next to him and Nagito next to her.   
“What is she dreaming about?” Akane asked.  
Byakuya rested his chin on his hands and nodded in the direction of the screen showing her dreams. “Just a relaxing evening swimming.” Akane and Nagito looked over at the screen to see Kida floating on her back in the pool. Byakuya sat on the edge of the pool, his legs in the water, a book in his hand. When she drifted close to him, she ran her fingers up his leg and he looked down and smiled at her. There was the sound of clacking keys and suddenly Akane's voice was heard screaming, followed by a splash. Kida looked up to see Akane swimming at the other side of the pool. More clacking of keys and Nagito floated past her. He brushed his hand against hers and she towards him and squeezed his hand in response. She smiled so brightly it made their hearts hurt.  
Byakuya leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “It doesn't get easier.” He said, cutting through the quiet of the room. “Three of us still have nightmares. We'll go several nights without sleep sometimes. It helps that we can still see her and be with her in a way, but...it'll never change the fact that she's gone.”  
They all sat in silence for a moment. “I hate this.” Akane said.  
“I like seeing her like this. I like seeing her happy, but...it just reminds me that... she's dead.”  
“Shut up.” Akane grumbled.  
They watched her play in the water with the three of them a moment longer. “I love this, but...it hurts.” Nagito said. He sounded so confused. So lost.  
“I know.” Byakuya sighed. “Be thankful that you didn't have to participate in our killing game. You didn't have to go through the process of finding her body or having to figure out that she killed herself or knowing you could have helped-” He stopped himself and adjusted his glasses, resting his fingers of the bridge of his nose for a second. “The point is, I understand. It is hard to see her knowing the reality of things. It won't get easier. It'll always hurt.” He sighed deeply before continuing. “But you should know that we'll always be here to talk or listen and you can always come here to see her.”  
Akane had started tearing up again and frowning, wiped her eyes with a fist. “Thank you.” Byakuya simply nodded in response. “Do you have any good memories of her?”  
Byakuya smiled faintly. “The first we met, she had locked herself in her room. I knocked and received no response. I thought she was ignoring me or maybe she was elsewhere. When I tried to leave, I stepped on a note she had slid under the door…”


	29. Exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kida sees something she wasn't meant to.

It was nighttime. Technically, they all had agreed to stay in their rooms at night, but when a note was slipped under her door just before she went to bed, Kida decided to stay up a little longer. The note was from Hina. She was going down to the kitchen for tea with Sakura. She knew they were only two people, but if she wanted to invite a third, they would love the company.   
Honestly, it had been a very intense day and tea sounded amazing right now. So, Kida grabbed her pen and stationery and wrote out a quick, generic invitation to tea with her, Sakura, and Hina. She hadn’t quite decided who she was going to invite or who would even be awake at this hour. Byakuya would be nice, but she was sure he was already asleep by now as was Taka. Keeping her shoes off to ensure quieter steps, she went out into the hallway, closing her door behind her. For extra precaution, she put the hood up on her black hoodie to better hide her face in the dark as well. Taking a look around at the nameplates on the doors, trying to decide who to invite, she noticed something somewhat strange. Were Sayaka’s and Makoto’s nameplates backwards? She was sure they had been the other way around earlier.   
Deciding to wait and see if anything came of the change in plates, Kida pressed herself flat against the wall and kept her head down. She wasn’t sure why this had happened or if it even meant anything, but surely if it did, it was worth waiting around a couple extra minutes to see if anything came of it. She’s not sure how long she waited. It might have been several minutes of plain darkness and silence. Then, the door with Sayaka’s plate on it opened. Out stumbled Leon. He was muttering to himself and...it sounded like he was crying. He had a small bundle in his hands and in his panic, swept off down towards the laundry room. What was he carrying and why was he in Sayaka’s room?

They found her the next morning. It was...horrible, really. There just so much blood and the way she was just slumped in the shower was…  
Kida wasn’t angry, but she almost wanted to be. Instead, she just felt her heart plummet. She was scared and upset and devastated and she wanted answers. So, she hid around the corner of the hall for the dorms and she waited. The second she saw the red of the Leon’s hair, she grabbed him and pulled him over to her.   
“Hey, wha-” She put her finger up to her lips to let him know to keep quiet.   
“Don’t speak. I know you know how to sign. Nobody ever has to know we had this conversation. Okay?”  
He hesitated a moment before bringing his hands up and signing back to her, “Okay…”   
“What were you doing in Sayaka’s room last night?”  
“What...what do you mean? We’re not supposed to leave our rooms at night.”  
“I saw you.”  
“You…” He looked panicked.  
“Hey. I’m not accusing you of anything. I just want answers.” His wide eyes flashed around the room as if he were afraid someone would see them. “Leon.” She put a hand on his arm to redirect him back to her. “You’re okay. Nothing’s happening right now. I just want to know why you were there.”  
“I was just...listen, it’s not what you think it is okay? She asked me to come over! I don’t - I don’t have the note anymore, but you have to believe me!”  
“I do. Why were you crying?”   
He flinched as if she had raised a hand to slap him. “Cuz...she was dead when I got there.”  
That was it. That was all she needed. “You can go now. I’m sorry.” He practically ran away from her, he was so anxious to get out of there. ‘She was dead when I got there.’ That simply wasn’t true. Kida stuck around waiting for several minutes before Leon came out. Who knows how long he had been in there before she got there? When you find your friend dead in a bathroom, you don’t hang around, grab something from the scene of the crime, and go to the laundry room. You wake people up. You let them know. You get help. Leon had lied to her. More than that...Leon might have killed Sayaka.   
Kida wanted to cry, but...she just felt exhausted. This is what their lives had come to? They were imprisoned in a school, no contact with the outside world, forced to kill each other if they wanted to leave...and they had. Sayaka was dead. Kida didn’t participate in the rest of the investigation. There was no point. She already had her answer.


	30. Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hina and Kida talk about their nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is super short, but I think it's also the first chapter exclusively with Kida and Hina? So, enjoy!

It was late. Hina didn’t have any hope of finding two other people to coax Kida out of her room, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t still talk. Hina sat cross-legged on the floor, a smile pile of blank paper to her left and a pile of notes from Kida to her right.   
“So, how come you’re up so late?” Kida wrote.  
“Do you ever have nightmares?” Hina sent back.  
“All the time. Do you wanna talk about it?”  
“I don’t know. They’re kind of stupid. I just dream a lot about the trials and people yelling at each other and pulling those stupid levers at the end…” Hina thought for a moment before adding, “What are yours about?”  
There was a long pause while Kida wrote out her response. “Someone is chasing me. I don't know who it is, but no matter how hard I try to hide or sneak away, they always seem to know where I am.”  
As Hina was writing her response, a second note slid out from under the door. “Thank you for talking to me. You're so nice and sweet and I just love you. I'm so happy to have met you.” As Hina was reading it, a wet drop appeared on the page. She reached up to her face and realized she had started crying. Quickly, she scribbled out a response.  
“I love you too! And hey, we're gonna get out of here. We won't have nightmares forever.” She drew in a little heart at the end of her sentence and slid the note under Kida's door.   
On the other side of the door, Kida placed her hand against the door and leaned her forehead against it. Right now, more than anything, she just wanted to be with Hina. She wanted to hear her voice, hold her hand, make her laugh. But she couldn’t. Not now. Not while the constant threat of death loomed over head. Hina was right, though. Nightmares couldn’t last forever. They would have peace. Someday.


	31. Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya and Kida share their first kiss.

People didn’t often get a chance to knock on Kida’s door. The windows to her cabin allowed her to see them before they got there and she was quick to throw her door open and embrace them. Byakuya didn’t even bother anymore. He just walked up to her door and knew she would have it open before he could do anything.  
Sure enough, he was met with Kida’s bright smile as soon as he arrived. “Hello!” She greeted him excitedly.  
“Hello.” He signed back with a smile of his own.   
“How have you been? How is work?”  
“Work is fine. Do you mind if I come inside?"  
She nodded excitedly and went back into her cabin, sitting daintily on her bed.  
"Do you wanna sleep together?"   
Byakuya almost tripped over himself walking to her bed. He must have just mistranslated that...right? "Do I...what?"  
"You're always tired when you first get here. I figured maybe you'd wanna sleep!"   
"Oh. Right.” On the one hand, he didn’t think that was where this was going. On the other hand...she wasn’t wrong. Work was exhausting some days and sleep was hard to come by without nightmares. He wished he could come to Kida rested, energized, and ready to spend time with her and they did that too - just after Byakuya got some sleep.   
While he was processing everything, Kida had taken the initiative in undressing him. By the time he had focused back in on her, she had gotten his tie and blazer off (neatly folded of course) and was unbuttoning his shirt. He wasn’t so tired that he couldn’t undress himself, but he let her finish taking his shirt off anyway. After his pants, glasses, and shoes were off, he crawled into bed with her, instinctively wrapping an arm around her and laying his head on her chest. He felt her fingers running through his hair and after just a few moments, was well on his way to sleep.  
Then, he heard something and was dimly aware that she was speaking.   
“Hmm?” He mumbled. She didn’t speak out loud very often and it was startling when she did. He didn’t want to miss it.  
“Did you guys ever recover your school memories?”   
He nestled in closer to her. “Not exactly.”  
“Do you think we ended up together before we lost our memories?”  
He didn’t have a solid answer for that, but...he did have the pictures. The pictures of everyone from their school days. Kida was in a few of them. Riding on Sakura’s shoulders. Sleeping in Hina’s lap. Standing triumphantly with a laughing Chihiro held bridal style in her arms. Holding Byakuya’s hand. Coming up behind him and hugging him from behind. He was quiet for a moment before answering, “I think so.” He didn’t like to think about those pictures. Didn’t like knowing how happy she was before all this. Didn’t like being reminded that while he was lying here with a living, joyful Kida who loved him, the real Kida died because she was afraid of him.  
Thankfully, she spoke up again and the sound of her voice was enough to distract him. “That’s kind of cute! It’s like we were meant to be or something.”  
He chuckled quietly. “Something like that.”  
Her fingers were back to stroking his hair, but he didn’t miss her words this time. “Do you think we ever kissed?”  
His head shot up and he braced himself on the bed so he could see her properly. “What?”   
“Like, if we kissed right now, would it be our first kiss or has that already happened and we just can’t remember? You know what I’m saying?” He knew all too well what she was saying. He had thought about it many times before. Could anything they did be considered a ‘first’? The pictures certainly painted a picture of them in a relationship, but...how far had it gone?  
“I...don’t know.”   
She shifted and leaned up a little so they were closer together and she could use her hands to sign again.  
“Would you like to kiss me?”   
Byakuya couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. Was that even a question? Did he want to kiss her? Some days, it would have been safer to say he needed to kiss her. Trying to get his breathing under control, he simply nodded his head. Kida leaned in and then her lips were on his. He could have cried. His fingers tangled themselves desperately in her hair and he kissed her like it was keeping him alive. By the time he pulled away, his breaths were coming even shakier than before.   
“Are you okay? You’re shaking.” Kida whispered, making the moment that much more intimate. He took a moment to come back to himself. Ah. He was shaking. He was also still clinging to her arm (when had his hand gotten there?) tightly enough that he would have worried about bruising her if she could be hurt here.  
He nodded his head once, then leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m...I’m okay.” He dipped down just enough to catch her lips again and lingered there for a moment longer than he really needed to.  
“Did you still wanna sleep?” She asked quietly.  
“I...yes, I should.” Reluctantly, he reverted back to his place before with his head on her chest.  
“I’ll still be here when you wake up, okay?” Her fingers were in his hair again and he was asleep before he could answer.


	32. Caffeine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mastermind!Kida has a little too much coffee just before a murder. Her hands are shaking. So are Ibuki's.

“I do not like being the type of person that’s so vulnerable to caffeine,” Kida murmured to herself. She needed to stay awake. There were too many plans to thwart in the morning. Her hands shook as she worked.  
As easily as it had been, Kida connected herself to Ibuki. Her eyes and mind simultaneously processed what she was seeing and what Ibuki was seeing. She stood in one of the abandoned, empty buildings on the island with Chiaki standing somewhere outside. Chiaki was currently “playing” Mikan, waiting for her in the music venue. Kida just had to get Ibuki out of the hospital. She walked through the halls towards the front door.   
She hadn’t planned on running into Fuyuhiko outside. He was sitting forlornly on a bench at the front of the hospital. His gaze was turned sadly to his own hands in his lap. Kida walked Ibuki straight past him, hoping perhaps that he wouldn’t notice. He did.   
“Hey!” He called out. “What are you doing?”   
Kida turned to him grinning. “Just following orders, sir.” She gave him a salute. Her hand was shaking against her forehead. She hoped he wouldn’t notice. He did. She turned and continued walking anyway. Fuyuhiko called out to her and even ran after her a little bit, but quickly gave up. Everything else went more or less according to plan.

Kida assumed that after everything that had happened, Fuyuhiko had forgotten about the meeting with Ibuki that night or at least anything terribly detailed regarding it. He didn’t.  
“Wait a minute…” Fuyuhiko said quietly to himself. “When I met Ibuki outside that night, her hands were shaking.”  
Kida exchanged a look with Chiaki.  
“M-maybe it was another sym-symptom of the disease? Being feverish can m-make people shiver.” Mikan suggested.  
“Maybe.” Fuyuhiko grumbled. “But, that’s not the issue.”  
“Well, what is it?” Akane asked.  
“Hey, Hajime...were Ibuki’s hands shaking when you saw her in the video?”  
All eyes turned to Hajime. Hajime’s own eyes widened. “No.”  
“Okay. So?”  
“So...it’s possible that the person in the video wasn’t Ibuki.”   
Kida smirked at Chiaki. What they were worried had been a mistake had actually just gone to further progress the trial. They weren’t going to be found out anytime soon. All was well.


End file.
